Engineering of Lipid Nanoparticles by the Multifunctionalization of the Surface with Amino Acid Derivatives for the Neutralization of a Target Toxic Peptide

Protein affinity reagents (e.g., antibodies) are often used for basic research, diagnostics, separations, and disease therapy. Although a lot of “synthetic” protein affinity reagents have been developed as a cost-effective alternative to antibodies, their low biocompatibility is a considerable problem for clinical application. Lipid nanoparticles (LNP) represent a highly biocompatible drug delivery agent. However, little has been reported that LNP itself works as a protein affinity reagent in living animals. Here, LNP is engineered for binding to and neutralizing a target toxic peptide in living animals by multifunctionalization with amino acid derivatives. Multifunctionalized LNP (MF-LNP) is prepared using amino acid derivative-conjugated lipids. Optimized MF-LNP exhibits nanomolar affinity to the target toxic peptide and inhibits toxic peptide-dependent hemolysis and cytotoxicity. In addition, MF-LNP captures and neutralizes the toxic peptide after intravenous injection in the bloodstream; in addition, MF-LNP does not release the toxic peptide in the accumulated organ. These results reveal the potential of using LNP as a highly biocompatible protein affinity reagent such as an antidote.     

Tetrahydroindoles as Multipurpose Screening Compounds and Novel Sirtuin Inhibitors

Indoles are privileged structures in medicinal and bioorganic chemistry that are particularly well suited to serve as platforms for diversity. Among many other therapeutic areas, the indole scaffold has been used to design aromatic compounds useful to interfere with enzymes engaged in the regulation of substrate acylation status, such as sirtuins. However, the planarity of the indole ring is not necessarily optimal for all target enzymes, especially when functionalization with aromatic side chains is required. Replacement of flat scaffolds by nonplanar molecular cores dominated by sp³ hybridization is a common strategy to avoid the disadvantages associated with poor solubility and high promiscuity, while covering less-well-explored areas of chemical space. Thus, we synthesized fragment-like tetrahydroindoles suitable for fragment-based drug discovery as well as a well-characterized small library intended as multipurpose screening compounds. For proof of principle, these compounds were screened against sirtuins 1–3, enzymes known to be addressable by indoles. We found that 2,6,6-trimethyl-4-oxo-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indole-3-carboxamides are potent and selective SIRT2 inhibitors. Compound 16 t displayed an IC₅₀ value of 0.98 μm and could serve as exquisite starting point for hit-to-lead profiling.     

New 1,3,4-Oxadiazole Derivatives of Pyridothiazine-1,1-Dioxide with Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Numerous studies have confirmed the coexistence of oxidative stress and inflammatory processes. Long-term inflammation and oxidative stress may significantly affect the initiation of the neoplastic transformation process. Here, we describe the synthesis of a new series of Mannich base-type hybrid compounds containing an arylpiperazine residue, 1,3,4-oxadiazole ring, and pyridothiazine-1,1-dioxide core. The synthesis was carried out with the hope that the hybridization of different pharmacophoric molecules would result in a synergistic effect on their anti-inflammatory activity, especially the ability to inhibit cyclooxygenase. The obtained compounds were investigated in terms of their potencies to inhibit cyclooxygenase COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes with the use of the colorimetric inhibitor screening assay. Their antioxidant and cytotoxic effect on normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) was also studied. Strong COX-2 inhibitory activity was observed after the use of TG6 and, especially, TG4. The TG11 compound, as well as reference meloxicam, turned out to be a preferential COX-2 inhibitor. TG12 was, in turn, a non-selective COX inhibitor. A molecular docking study was performed to understand the binding interaction of compounds at the active site of cyclooxygenases.     

2,4-Dichlorophenol molecularly imprinted two-dimensional photonic crystal hydrogels

A novel molecularly imprinted two-dimensional (2-D) photonic crystal hydrogels (MIPH) for sensitive and label-free recognition of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) was prepared. The 2-D photonic crystal template was fabricated by using air-water interface self-assembly method. And then the template was embedded with molecularly imprinted polymer, which was synthesized with 2,4-DCP as imprinted molecules, dimethyl sulfoxide as solvent, acrylic acid and acrylamide as functional monomers, N,N-methylene bis acrylamide as cross-linker, azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator. The imprinted molecules were removed by 0.01 M ammonia solution. The results indicated that the 2,4-DCP molecularly imprinted 2-D photonic crystal hydrogels has good response and recognition ability to 2,4-DCP. When the molar ratio of cross-linking density of MIPH is 2.3% and the molar ratio of imprinting molecule is 5.0%, the change of Debye ring diameter is the largest. The diameter of Debye ring increased by 7.1 mm when the concentration of 2,4-DCP changed from 0 to 1 × 10⁻⁶ M, and the particle spacing of MIPH reduced 38 nm. In addition, the diameter of the Debye ring hardly changed in the solution of analogues of 2,4-DCP such as, phenol, 2-chlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and so on, indicating that the MIPH has highly sensitivity and specificity.     

Supramolecular Architectures of Nucleic Acid/Peptide Hybrids

Supramolecular architectures that are built artificially from biomolecules, such as nucleic acids or peptides, with structural hierarchical orders ranging from the molecular to nano-scales have attracted increased attention in molecular science research fields. The engineering of nanostructures with such biomolecule-based supramolecular architectures could offer an opportunity for the development of biocompatible supramolecular (nano)materials. In this review, we highlighted a variety of supramolecular architectures that were assembled from both nucleic acids and peptides through the non-covalent interactions between them or the covalently conjugated molecular hybrids between them.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of the interaction between OH radicals in plasma with poly-β-1–6-N-acetylglucosamine

Cold atmospheric plasma shows a satisfactory ability to inactivate bacterial biofilms that are difficult to remove using conventional methods in some cases. However, the researches on the inactivation mechanism are not quite sufficient. Poly-β-1–6-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG), which is one of the important components in some biofilms, was used as the research subject, and the related mechanism of action triggered by different concentrations of the OH in plasma was studied using reactive molecular dynamics simulations. The results showed that OH radicals could not only trigger the hydrogen abstraction reaction leading to cleavage of the PNAG molecular structure, but undergo an OH addition reaction with PNAG molecules. New reaction pathways appeared in the simulations as the OH concentration increased, but the reaction efficiency first increased and then decreased. The simulation study in this paper could, to some extent, help elucidate the microscopic mechanism of the interaction between OH radicals in plasma and bacterial biofilms at the atomic level.     

Unusual Two-Step Assembly of a Minimalistic Dipeptide-Based Functional Hypergelator

Self-assembled peptide hydrogels represent the realization of peptide nanotechnology into biomedical products. There is a continuous quest to identify the simplest building blocks and optimize their critical gelation concentration (CGC). Herein, a minimalistic, de novo dipeptide, Fmoc-Lys(Fmoc)-Asp, as an hydrogelator with the lowest CGC ever reported, almost fourfold lower as compared to that of a large hexadecapeptide previously described, is reported. The dipeptide self-assembles through an unusual and unprecedented two-step process as elucidated by solid-state NMR and molecular dynamics simulation. The hydrogel is cytocompatible and supports 2D/3D cell growth. Conductive composite gels composed of Fmoc-Lys(Fmoc)-Asp and a conductive polymer exhibit excellent DNA binding. Fmoc-Lys(Fmoc)-Asp exhibits the lowest CGC and highest mechanical properties when compared to a library of dipeptide analogues, thus validating the uniqueness of the molecular design which confers useful properties for various potential applications.     

3D Microstructures of Liquid Crystal Networks with Programmed Voxelated Director Fields

The shape-shifting behavior of liquid crystal networks (LCNs) and elastomers (LCEs) is a result of an interplay between their initial geometrical shape and their molecular alignment. For years, reliance on either one-step in situ or two-step film processing techniques has limited the shape-change transformations from 2D to 3D geometries. The combination of various fabrication techniques, alignment methods, and chemical formulations developed in recent years has introduced new opportunities to achieve 3D-to-3D shape-transformations in large scales, albeit the precise control of local molecular alignment in microscale 3D constructs remains a challenge. Here, the voxel-by-voxel encoding of nematic alignment in 3D microstructures of LCNs produced by two-photon polymerization using high-resolution topographical features is demonstrated. 3D LCN microstructures (suspended films, coils, and rings) with designable 2D and 3D director fields with a resolution of 5 µm are achieved. Different shape transformations of LCN microstructures with the same geometry but dissimilar molecular alignments upon actuation are elicited. This strategy offers higher freedom in the shape-change programming of 3D LCN microstructures and expands their applicability in emerging technologies, such as small-scale soft robots and devices and responsive surfaces.     

Chemical-Shift Perturbations Reflect Bile Acid Binding to Norovirus Coat Protein: Recognition Comes in Different Flavors

Bile acids have been reported as important cofactors promoting human and murine norovirus (NoV) infections in cell culture. The underlying mechanisms are not resolved. Through the use of chemical shift perturbation (CSP) NMR experiments, we identified a low-affinity bile acid binding site of a human GII.4 NoV strain. Long-timescale MD simulations reveal the formation of a ligand-accessible binding pocket of flexible shape, allowing the formation of stable viral coat protein–bile acid complexes in agreement with experimental CSP data. CSP NMR experiments also show that this mode of bile acid binding has a minor influence on the binding of histo-blood group antigens and vice versa. STD NMR experiments probing the binding of bile acids to virus-like particles of seven different strains suggest that low-affinity bile acid binding is a common feature of human NoV and should therefore be important for understanding the role of bile acids as cofactors in NoV infection.