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Background Metastasis, the spread and growth of tumor cells to distant organ sites, represents the most devastating attribute and plays a major role in the morbidity and mortality of cancer. Inflammation is crucial for malignant tumor transformation and survival. Thus, blocking inflammation is expected to serve as an effective cancer treatment. Among anti-inflammation therapies, chemokine modulation is now beginning to emerge from the pipeline. CXC chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR4) and its ligand stromal cell-derived factor-1 (CXCL12) interaction and the resulting cell signaling cascade have emerged as highly relevant targets since they play pleiotropic roles in metastatic progression. The unique function of CXCR4 is to promote the homing of tumor cells to their microenvironment at the distant organ sites. Methodology/Principal Findings We describe the actions of N,N′-(1,4-phenylenebis(methylene))dipyrimidin-2-amine (designated MSX-122), a novel small molecule and partial CXCR4 antagonist with properties quite unlike that of any other reported CXCR4 antagonists, which was prepared in a single chemical step using a reductive amination reaction. Its specificity toward CXCR4 was tested in a binding affinity assay and a ligand competition assay using 18 F-labeled MSX-122. The potency of the compound was determined in two functional assays, Matrigel invasion assay and cAMP modulation. The therapeutic potential of MSX-122 was evaluated in three different murine models for inflammation including an experimental colitis, carrageenan induced paw edema, and bleomycin induced lung fibrosis and three different animal models for metastasis including breast cancer micrometastasis in lung, head and neck cancer metastasis in lung, and uveal melanoma micrometastasis in liver in which CXCR4 was reported to play crucial roles. Conclusions/Significance We developed a novel small molecule, MSX-122, that is a partial CXCR4 antagonist without mobilizing stem cells, which can be safer for long-term blockade of metastasis than other reported CXCR4 antagonists.

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The positron emission tomography (PET) tracer 2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-chlorophenyl)-8-(2-[18F]-fluoroethyl)-nortropane (18F-FECNT) is a highly specific ligand for dopamine transporter (DAT) that yields higher peak striatum-to-cerebellum ratios and offers more favorable kinetics than most 18F-radiolabeled DAT ligands currently available. The goal of this study is to validate the use of 18F-FECNT as a PET radiotracer to assess the degree of striatal dopamine terminals denervation and midbrain dopaminergic cell loss in MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys. Three rhesus monkeys received weekly injections of MPTP (0.2-0.5 mg/kg) for 21 weeks, which resulted in the progressive development of a moderate level of parkinsonism. We carried out 18F-FECNT PET at baseline (twice; ten weeks apart) and at week 21 post-MPTP injections. Postmortem stereological cell counts of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral midbrain, and intensity measurements of DAT and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity in the striatum were performed and correlated with striatal and ventral midbrain PET data. Three additional monkeys were used as controls for midbrain dopaminergic cell counts, and striatal DAT or TH immunoreactivity measurements. The correlation and coefficient of variance between 18F-FECNT test-retest specific uptake ratios were 0.99 (R2) and 2.65%, respectively. The 18F-FECNT binding potential of the ventral midbrain and striatal regions was tightly correlated with postmortem stereological cell counts of nigral dopaminergic neurons (R2 = 0.91), and striatal DAT (R2 = 0.83) or TH (R2 = 0.88) immunoreactivity intensity measurements. These findings demonstrate that 18F-FECNT is a highly sensitive PET imaging ligand to quantify both striatal dopamine denervation and midbrain dopaminergic cell loss associated with parkinsonism.

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The experiments indicate that DAT is trafficked into the cell by isoflurane without changing the total amount of DAT in the striatum. The PET data are consistent with this finding, provided that intracellular DAT acquires a conformation that has low affinity for [18F]FECNT. Thus, [18F]FECNT appears to be an excellent agent for measuring plasma membrane-expressed DAT and evaluating DAT trafficking.

The goal of the present study was to examine how social subordination stress and 5HTT polymorphisms affect the development of brain serotonin (5HT) systems during the pubertal transition in female rhesus monkeys. We also examined associations with developmental changes in emotional reactivity in response to a standardized behavioral test, the Human Intruder (HI). Our findings provide the first longitudinal evidence of developmental increases in 5HT1A receptor and 5HTT binding in the brain of female primates from pre- to peripuberty. The increase in 5HT1A BPND in these socially housed female rhesus monkeys is a robust finding, occurring across all groups, regardless of social status or 5HTT genotype, and occurring in left and right hemispheres of all prefrontal regions studied, as well as amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and raphe nuclei. 5HTT BPND also showed an increase with age in raphe, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These changes in brain 5HT systems take place as females establish more adult-like patterns of social behavior, as well as during the HI paradigm. Indeed, the main developmental changes in behavior during the HI (increase in freezing and decrease in submission/appeasement) were related to neurodevelopmental increases in 5HT1A receptors and 5HTT, because the associations between these behaviors and 5HT endpoints emerge at peripuberty. We detected an effect of social status on 5HT1A BPND in the hypothalamus and on 5HTT BPND in the orbitofrontal cortex, with subordinates showing higher BPND than dominants in both cases during the pubertal transition. No main effects of 5HTT genotype were observed for 5HT1A or 5HTT BPND. Our findings indicate that adolescence in female rhesus monkeys is a period of central 5HT reorganization, partly influenced by exposure to the social stress of subordination, that likely functions to integrate adrenal and gonadal systems and shape the behavioral response to emotionally challenging social situations.

Reboxetine analogs with methyl and fluoroalkyl substituents at position 2 of the phenoxy ring 1-4 were synthesized. In vitro competition binding demonstrated that 1-4 have a high affinity for the norepinephrine transporter (NET) with K i 's = 1.02, 3.14, 3.68, and 0.30 nM (vs [ 3 H]nisoxetine), respectively. MicroPET imaging in rhesus monkeys showed that the relative regional distribution of