A series of thiosemicarbazones (TSCs) (bearing a (4)N-azabicyclo[3.2.2]nonane moiety) derived from 3-acylpyridazines, 4-acetylpyrimidines, and 2-acetylpyrazines (1-8) were synthesized as potential antitumor agents. TSCs 1-8 exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against human acute lymphoblastic leukemia CCRF-CEM cells (IC(50) = 0.05-0.77 microM) and colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells (IC(50) = 0.011-2.22 microM). Copper II complexes of TSCs 1-8 showed significant improvement in cytotoxic activity against HT-29 cells (IC(50) = 0.004-1.51 microM) by a factor of 3. However, complexation of ligands 1, 2, 4, and 6 with Fe(II) results in lowering of cytotoxic activity by a factor of approximately 7. In clonogenic assays involving human tumor cells of different tumor origins, compounds 5, 7, 8, and their copper complexes 5Cu(II), 7Cu(II), and 8Cu(II) exhibited remarkable cytotoxic activities with mean IC(50) values of 6, 0.18, 1, 1, 0.37, and 0.37 nM, respectively. In particular, the compounds were highly effective against human colon carcinoma and large and small cell lung carcinoma cells. The TSC derivative 5 was evaluated in vivo in nude mice bearing LXFL 529 human large cell lung carcinoma cells. With respect to antitumor activity, application of 30 mg/kg/d resulted in moderate inhibition (42%) of tumor growth. No effect on tumor growth was observed at a dose of 10 mg/kg/d. However, a dose of 40 or 60 mg/kg/d resulted in 50 and 75% death, respectively, in the treated mice, indicating the high toxicity of these compounds. Using human liver microsomes, compound 5 was found to be rapidly and highly metabolized in vitro. In actual fact, only 2% of the unmetabolized compound could be detected in the incubation medium after 5 min. The IC(50) for cell proliferation (0.006-0.022 microM) elicited by these compounds is much lower than that of the inhibition of [(14)C]cytidine incorporation into DNA (0.18-3.32 microM). These compounds are also noncell cycle specific agents. Interestingly, compounds 5, 5Cu(II), and 8 were found to be potent inducers of apoptosis in Burkitt's lymphoma cells.

A B S T R A C T 2-n-Butyl-3-(4'-diethylaminoethoxy-3',5'-diiodobenzoyl) -benzofurane (amiodarone), a drug used in arrythmias and angina pectoris, contains 75 mg of organic iodine/200 mg active substance. Four studies were performed to test its effect on thyroid hormone metabolism: (a) nine male subjects were treated with 400 mg of amiodarone for 28 days; (b) five male subjects received, for the same period of time, 150 mg of iodine in the form of Lugol's solution; (c) five subjects received 300 Ag L-thyroxine (T4) for 16 days; from the 10th to the 16th day, 400 mg of amiodarone was added; and (d) five euthyroid subjects received 300 Ag L-T4 for 16 days. The changes in serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), serum total T4, 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3), free T3, and 3,5',3'-triiodothyronine (reverse Ta, rT3) were measured, and the pituitary reserve in TSH was evaluated by a thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) test.The results show that amiodarone induced a decrease in serum Ta (28±5.1 ng/100 ml, mean ±SEM, P < 0.05), whereas serum T4 and rTs increased (1.4± 0.4 /g T4/100 ml, NS and 82.7±9.3 ng rTs/100 ml, P < 0.01). The control study with an equal amount of inorganic iodine did not induce these opposite changes but slightly lowered serum rTs, T3, and T4. In the third study, serum rTs increased as under amiodarone treatment, thereby proving that these changes were peripheral.It is suggested that amiodarone changes thyroid hormone metabolism, possibly by reducing deiodination of T4 to Ts and inducing a preferential production of rT3.Received for puiblication 20 August 1975 and in rezised form 15 March 1976.Amiodarone also increased the response of TSH to TRH. The maximal increment of serum TSH above base line was 32±4.5 oU/ml under treatment and 20±3 AU/ml before treatment (P < 0.01). During this test, the serum Ts increase was more pronounced than during the control period (83±+13 and 47+7.4 ng/100 ml, P < 0.05).

Neopterin is produced by human and primate monocyte/macrophages upon activation by pro-inflammatory stimuli like Th1-type cytokine interferon-gamma. Neopterin has pro-oxidative properties, which have been demonstrated in vitro in physicochemical and cell culture studies and also in in vivo experiments, e.g. the Langendorff perfusion model of rat hearts. In the past several years, the measurement of neopterin concentrations in body fluids including serum, urine and cerebrospinal fluid has revealed a potential role of this molecule in the prediction of long-term prognosis in both patients with cancer and those with systemic infections such as HIV-1 infection. Moreover, elevated neopterin concentrations have been reported in patients with coronary disease compared to controls and in recent years it has become apparent that increased neopterin concentrations are an independent marker for cardiovascular disease and a predictor of future cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease. Current data suggest that the diagnostic performance of neopterin testing is comparable to that of well established biomarkers such as C-reactive protein and cholesterol plasma levels. The present article reviews the role of neopterin in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease and as a marker of coronary artery disease progression.

The determination of tryptophan degradation and neopterin production in PBMC reflects various pro- and anti-inflammatory cascades that are of relevance also in patients. It constitutes a robust and reliable approach to screen anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive drugs and may improve throughput, speed and cost-effectiveness in drug discovery.

Lipoprotein receptors, such as LRP, have been shown to assemble multiprotein complexes containing intracellular signaling molecules; however, in vivo, their signaling function is poorly understood. Using a novel LRP receptor fusion construct, a type I transmembrane protein chimera, termed sIgG-LRP (bearing the intracellular COOH-terminal tail of human LRP as recombinant fusion to a transmembrane region plus the extracellular IgG-F c domain), we here investigated LRP signal transduction specificity in intact cells. First and similar to activated ␣2-macroglobulin as agonist of endogenous LRP, expression of sIgG-LRP demonstrated significant apoptosis protection. Second and similar to ␣2-macroglobulin-induced endogenous LRP, sIgG-LRP is sufficient to negatively modulate mitogen-induced Elk-1 and cJun (but not NF-B) transcriptional activity. Third, expression of sIgG-LRP also impaired cJun transactivation mediated by constitutive active mutants of Rac-1 and MEKK-1. Fourth and unexpectedly, sIgG-LRP expression was found to be associated with a marked enhancement of mitogen-induced cJun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) activation. Fifth, confocal microscopic examination and subcellular fractionation demonstrated that sIgG-LRP and JNK co-localize in transfected cells. Therefore, sIgG-LRP expression was found to significantly impair activation-induced translocation of JNK into the nucleus. Taken together, we here demonstrate that sIgG-LRP protein sequesters activated JNK into the plasma membrane compartment in intact cells, inhibiting nuclear activation of the JNK-dependent transcription factors Elk-1 and cJun. Low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP)1 is one member of the LDL receptor family that also includes the LDL receptor, the very low density lipoprotein receptor, megalin, LRP5, LRP6, and apoER2 receptor (see Ref. 1 LRP is expressed abundantly in neurons and microglia of the central nervous system (3, 4). Disruption of the LRP gene in mice blocks development of LRP Ϫ/Ϫ embryos around the implantation (5). However, the complex phenotype of the few malformed LRP-deficient embryos that survive until E10 (6), similar to the very low density lipoprotein ApoER2 receptor double knockout phenotype (7), postulated some LRP receptor signaling function(s). Consistently, LRP and several of its ligands, including ␣2-macroglobulin, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), apoE-containing lipoproteins, and the amyloid precursor protein (APP) (8, 9), have been implicated in various cellular functions including the neuropathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (see Ref. 10 for review).Based on yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation analysis, lipoprotein receptors assemble intracellular multiprotein complexes containing the adapter and scaffold proteins Dab-1 (7), FE65 (11) and Shc (12, 13), the non receptor tyrosine kinases Src and Fyn (14), and the JNK-interacting proteins (JIP-1 & 2) (15, 16), which act as molecular scaffolds for the JNK signaling pathway (see Ref. 17 for review). Quite similarly, such intracellular signali...

Here we describe the effects of novel benzoxazol-2-yl and benzimidazol-2-yl hydrazones derived from 2-pyridinecarbaldehyde and 2-acetylpyridine. The IC 50 values for inhibition of cell proliferation in KB-3-1, CCRF-CEM, Burkitt's lymphoma, HT-29, HeLa, ZR-75 and MEXF276L by most of the novel compounds are in the nanomolar range. In colony-forming assays with human tumor xenografts the compounds 2-actylpyridine benzoxazol-2-ylhydrazone (EPH52), 2-acetylpyridine benzoimidazol-2-ylhydrazone (EPH61) and 2-acetylpyridine 1-methylbenzoimidazol-2-ylhydrazone (EPH116) exhibited above-average inhibition of colon carcinoma (IC 50 ‫؍‬ 1.3-4.56 nM); EPH52 and EPH116 also exhibited above-average inhibition of melanoma cells. As shown with human liver microsomes, EPH116 is only moderately metabolized. The compound inhibited the growth of human colon cancer xenografts in nude mice in a dose-dependent manner. Thiosemicarbazones derived from 2-formylpyridines have been shown to be inhibitors of ribonucleotide reductase (RR). The following results show that RR is not the target of the novel compounds: cells overexpressing the M2 subunit of RR and resistant to the RR inhibitor hydroxyurea are not cross-resistant to the novel compounds; inhibition of RR occurs at 6-to 73-fold higher drug concentrations than that of inhibition of cell proliferation; the pattern of cell cycle arrest in S phase induced by the RR inhibitor hydroxyurea is not observed after treatment with the novel compounds; and a COMPARE analysis with the related compounds 2-acetylpyrazine benzothiazol-2-ylhydrazone (EPH95) and 3-acetylisoquinoline benzoxazol-2-ylhydrazone (EPH136) showed that the pattern of these compounds is not related to any of the standard antitumor drugs. Therefore, these novel compounds show inhibition of colon cancers and exhibit a novel mechanism of action. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Key words: benzoxazolyl hydrazones; benzimidazolyl hydrazones; antitumor agents; colon cancerTheoretically, approximately 50% of the patients diagnosed with cancer can be cured by surgery and radiation therapy since their tumors have not spread. Of the remaining 50%, about 10% are curable with systemic chemotherapy, including children with leukemia and sarcomas and adults with testicular cancer and choriocarcinoma. However, most metastatic cancers are currently not curable by chemotherapy. Half of all cancer patients fail to respond to chemotherapy or relapse from the initial response and ultimately die from their metastatic disease. 1 Colorectal cancer affects about 1 person in 20 in Western populations, representing 15% of all cancers. 2 Because the survival rate is low, new drugs for this type of cancer are desired. 2 The hope for improvement in treatment outcome resides in continued research designed to optimize the administration of currently available agents and to discover novel therapeutic products. 1 Taxanes and camptothecins, for example, are new classes of compounds showing promising results in ovarian, breast and colon cancers. 1 To obtain additional com...

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