The lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin K is a target for osteoporosis therapy. The aryl-piperazine-containing cathepsin K inhibitor CRA-013783/L-006235 (1) displays greater than 4000-fold selectivity against the lysosomal/endosomal antitargets cathepsin B, L, and S. However, 1 and other aryl-piperazine-containing analogues, including balicatib (10), are approximately 10-100-fold more potent in cell-based enzyme occupancy assays than against each purified enzyme. This phenomenon arises from their basic, lipophilic nature, which results in lysosomal trapping. Consistent with its lysosomotropic nature, 1 accumulates in cells and in rat tissues of high lysosome content. In contrast, nonbasic aryl-morpholino-containing analogues do not exhibit lysosomotropic properties. Increased off-target activities of basic cathepsin K inhibitors were observed in a cell-based cathepsin S antigen presentation assay. No potency increases of basic inhibitors in a functional cathepsin K bone resorption whole cell assay were detected. Therefore, basic cathepsin K inhibitors, such as 1, suffer from reduced functional selectivities compared to those predicted using purified enzyme assays.
The cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) has been implicated in the exacerbation of ischemic damage in the brains of rodents. This study has ascertained the cellular localization and chronologic and topographic distribution of pro/mature interleukin-1β (IL-1β) protein 0.5, 1, 2, 6, 24, and 48 hours after ischemia by subjecting rats to permanent unilateral occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Interleukin-1β was localized immunocytochemically in vibratome sections of perfusion-fixed brains. The cells that expressed IL-1β had the morphologic features of microglia and macrophages. Interleukin-1β was first detected 1 hour after occlusion in ipsilateral meningeal macrophage-like cells. By 6 hours, pro/mature IL-1β-immunoreactive (IL-1βir) putative microglia were present in the ischemic cerebral cortex, corpus callosum, caudoputamen, and surrounding tissue. By 24 and 48 hours after ischemia, the number and spread of IL-1βir cells increased greatly, including those resembling activated microglia and macrophages, as the core of the infarct became infiltrated. Interleukin-1βir cells also were present in apparently undamaged tissue, adjacent to the lesion ipsilaterally, and contralaterally in the cerebral cortex, dorsal corpus callosum, dorsal caudoputamen, and hippocampus. These results support the functional role of IL-1 in ischemic brain damage and reveal a distinct temporal and spatial expression of IL-1β protein in cells believed to be microglia and macrophages.
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