Ruthenium(II)-arene complexes with biotin-containing ligands were prepared so that a novel drug delivery system based on tumor-specific vitamin-receptor mediated endocytosis could be developed. The complexes were characterized by spectroscopic methods and their in vitro anticancer activity in cancer cell lines with various levels of major biotin receptor (COLO205, HCT116 and SW620 cells) was tested in comparison with the ligands. In all cases, coordination of ruthenium resulted in significantly enhanced cytotoxicity. The affinity of Ru(II) -biotin complexes to avidin was investigated and was lower than that of unmodified biotin. Hill coefficients in the range 2.012-2.851 suggest strong positive cooperation between the complexes and avidin. To estimate the likelihood of binding to the biotin receptor/transporter, docking studies with avidin and streptavidin were conducted. These explain, to some extent, the in vitro anticancer activity results and support the conclusion that these novel half-sandwich ruthenium(II)-biotin conjugates may act as biological vectors to cancer cells, although no clear relationship between the cellular Ru content, the cytotoxicity, and the presence of the biotin moiety was observed.

TLR4 is a key pattern recognition receptor that can sense pathogen‐ and danger‐ associated molecular patterns to activate the downstream signaling pathways which results in the upregulation of transcription factors and expression of interferons and cytokines to mediate protective pro‐inflammatory responses involved in immune defense. Bacterial lipid A is the primary TLR4 ligand with very complex, species‐specific, and barely predictable structure‐activity relationships. Given that therapeutic targeting of TLR4 is an emerging tool for management of a variety of human diseases, the development of novel TLR4 activating biomolecules other than lipid A is of vast importance. We report on design, chemical synthesis and immunobiology of novel glycan‐based lipid A‐mimicking molecules that can activate human and murine TLR4‐mediated signaling with picomolar affinity. Exploiting crystal structure ‐ based design we have created novel disaccharide lipid A mimetics (DLAMs) where the inherently flexible β(1→6)‐linked diglucosamine backbone of lipid A is exchanged with a conformationally restrained non‐reducing βGlcN(1↔1′)βGlcN scaffold. Excellent stereoselectivity in a challenging β,β‐1,1′ glycosylation was achieved by tuning the reactivities of donor and acceptor molecules using protective group manipulation strategy. Divergent streamlined synthesis of β,β‐1,1′‐linked diglucosamine‐derived glycolipids entailing multiple long‐chain (R)‐3‐ acyloxyacyl residues and up two three phosphate groups was developed. Specific 3D‐molecular shape and conformational rigidity of unnatural β,β‐1,1′‐linked diglucosamine combined with carefully optimized phosphorylation and acylation pattern ensured efficient induction of the TLR4‐mediated signaling in a species‐independent manner.

Zwitterionic modifications of glycans, such as phosphorylcholine and phosphoethanolamine, are known from a range of prokaryotic and eukaryotic species and are recognized by mammalian antibodies and pentraxins; however, defined saccharide ligands modified with these zwitterionic moieties for highthroughput studies are lacking. In this study, we prepared and tested example mono-and disaccharides 6-substituted with either phosphorylcholine or phosphoethanolamine as bovine serum albumin neoglycoconjugates or printed in a microarray format for subsequent assessment of their binding to lectins, pentraxins, and antibodies. C-Reactive protein and anti-phosphorylcholine antibodies bound specifically to ligands with phosphorylcholine, but recognition by concanavalin A was abolished or decreased as compared with that to the corresponding nonzwitterionic compounds. Furthermore, in array format, the phosphorylcholine-modified ligands were recognized by IgG and IgM in sera of either non-infected or nematode-infected dogs and pigs. Thereby, these new compounds are defined ligands which allow the assessment of glycan-bound phosphorylcholine as a target of both the innate and adaptive immune systems in mammals.

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