Cholera toxin (CT) enters host intestinal epithelia cells, and its retrograde transport to the cytosol results in the massive loss of fluids and electrolytes associated with severe dehydration. To initiate this intoxication process, the B subunit of CT (CTB) first binds to a cell surface receptor displayed on the apical surface of the intestinal epithelia. While the monosialoganglioside GM1 is widely accepted to be the sole receptor for CT, intestinal epithelial cell lines also utilize fucosylated glycan epitopes on glycoproteins to facilitate cell surface binding and endocytic uptake of the toxin. Further, l-fucose can competively inhibit CTB binding to intestinal epithelia cells. Here, we use competition binding assays with l-fucose analogs to decipher the molecular determinants for l-fucose inhibition of cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) binding. Additionally, we find that mono- and difucosylated oligosaccharides are more potent inhibitors than l-fucose alone, with the LeY tetrasaccharide emerging as the most potent inhibitor of CTB binding to two colonic epithelial cell lines (T84 and Colo205). Finally, a non-natural fucose-containing polymer inhibits CTB binding two orders of magnitude more potently than the LeY glycan when tested against Colo205 cells. This same polymer also inhibits CTB binding to T84 cells and primary human jejunal epithelial cells in a dose-dependent manner. These findings suggest the possibility that polymeric display of fucose might be exploited as a prophylactic or therapeutic approach to block the action of CT toward the human intestinal epithelium.

We have found that activating either 2,3-bis(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)cyclopropenone or 2,3-bis(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)cyclopropene-1-thione with oxalyl bromide results in the formation of a species that promotes the glycosylation between 2,6-dideoxy-sugar hemiacetals and glycosyl acceptors in good yield and high α-selectivity. Both reactions are mild and tolerate a number of sensitive functional groups including highly acid-labile 2,3,6-trideoxy-sugar linkages.

The use of a combination of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) and β-pinene permits the removal of 2-naphthylmethyl (Nap) ether protecting groups on highly sensitive substrates. The reaction tolerates both acid and base sensitive protecting groups, and products are afforded in 68–96% yield. The utility of the method is demonstrated by the removal of the Nap protecting groups on highly sensitive 2,6-dideoxy-sugar disaccharides.

Nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems are playing an emerging role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) chemoprophylaxis and treatment due to their ability to alter the pharmacokinetics and improve the therapeutic index of various antiretroviral (ARV) drug compounds used alone and in combination. Although several nanocarriers have been described for combination delivery of ARV drugs, measurement of drug-drug activities facilitated by the use of these nanotechnology platforms has not been fully investigated for topical prevention. Here, we show that physicochemically diverse ARV drugs can be encapsulated within polymeric nanoparticles to deliver multidrug combinations that provide potent HIV chemoprophylaxis in relevant models of cell-free, cell-cell, and mucosal tissue infection. In contrast to existing approaches that coformulate ARV drug combinations together in a single nanocarrier, we prepared single-drug-loaded nanoparticles that were subsequently combined upon administration. ARV drug-nanoparticles were prepared using emulsion-solvent evaporation techniques to incorporate maraviroc (MVC), etravirine (ETR), and raltegravir (RAL) into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles. We compared the antiviral potency of the free and formulated drug combinations for all pairwise and triple drug combinations against both cell-free and cell-associated HIV-1 infection in vitro. The efficacy of ARV-drug nanoparticle combinations was also assessed in a macaque cervicovaginal explant model using a chimeric simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) containing the reverse transcriptase (RT) of HIV-1. We observed that our ARV-NPs maintained potent HIV inhibition and were more effective when used in combinations. In particular, ARV-NP combinations involving ETR-NP exhibited significantly higher antiviral potency and dose-reduction against both cell-free and cell-associated HIV-1 BaL infection in vitro. Furthermore, ARV-NP combinations that showed large dose-reduction were identified to be synergistic, whereas the equivalent free-drug combinations were observed to be strictly additive. Higher intracellular drug concentration was measured for cells dosed with the triple ARV-NP combination compared to the equivalent unformulated drugs. Finally, as a first step toward evaluating challenge studies in animal models, we also show that our ARV-NP combinations inhibit RT-SHIV virus propagation in macaque cervicovaginal tissue and block virus transmission by migratory cells emigrating from the tissue. Our results demonstrate that ARV-NP combinations control HIV-1 transmission more efficiently than free-drug combinations. These studies provide a rationale to better understand the role of nanocarrier systems in facilitating multidrug effects in relevant cells and tissues associated with HIV infection.

We have found that activating either 2,3-bis(2,3,4trimethoxyphenyl)cyclopropenone or 2,3-bis(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)cyclopropene-1-thione with oxalyl bromide results in the formation of as pecies that promotes the glycosylation between 2,6-dideoxy-sugar hemiacetals and glycosyl acceptors in good yield and high a-selectivity.B oth reactions are mild and tolerate anumber of sensitive functional groups including highly acid-labile 2,3,6-trideoxy-sugar linkages.Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under http://dx.