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PubMed1991

Mechanisms of sensitivity and natural resistance to antifolates in a methylcholanthrene-induced rat sarcoma.

A methylcholanthrene-induced rat sarcoma that can be propagated in vitro or in vivo was evaluated for resistance to antifolates and was found to be relatively resistant to methotrexate and 10-ethyl-10-deazaaminopterin but sensitive to trimetrexate. Rat sarcoma cell extracts contained low levels of dihydrofolate reductase activity, the target enzyme of methotrexate, and inhibition of this enzyme by these three antifolates was similar. Transport studies showed poor uptake of both methotrexate and 10-ethyl-10-deazaaminopterin. In contrast, trimetrexate achieved high intracellular levels. The poor uptake of methotrexate was not due to lack of polyglutamylation. Thus, the basis for natural resistance to methotrexate and 10-ethyl-10-deazaaminopterin, compared with trimetrexate, in this rat sarcoma cell line was due to decreased transport of these drugs.

Aminopterin↗
PubMed1998

Super in vitro synergy between inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase and inhibitors of other folate-requiring enzymes: the critical role of polyglutamylation.

The combined action among polyglutamylatable and nonpolyglutamylatable antifolates, directed against dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase (GARFT), 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase (AICARFT), and thymidylate synthase (TS), in human ileocecal HCT-8 cells was examined in a 96-well plate growth inhibition assay (96-h continuous drug exposure). An interaction parameter, alpha, was estimated for each of 95 experiments by fitting a seven-parameter model to data with weighted nonlinear regression. In a representative experiment, raising the folic acid concentration in the medium dramatically increased the Loewe synergy for the combination of trimetrexate (TMTX) and the GARFT inhibitor AG2034 (from a mean alpha +/- SE of 1.50 +/- 0.25 at 2.3 microM folic acid to 146 +/- 20 at 78 microM folic acid). Enhancements were also found for combinations of TMTX with the GARFT inhibitors AG2032, Lometrexol, and LY309887, the AICARFT inhibitor AG2009, and the TS inhibitors LY231514 and Tomudex but not with the GARFT inhibitor LL95509 or with the TS inhibitors AG337, ZD9331, and BW1843U89. Replacing TMTX with methotrexate in two-drug mixtures decreased the intensity of Loewe synergy. Examination of isobolograms at different effect levels revealed informative reproducible changes in isobol patterns. No two-drug combinations among inhibitors of GARFT, AICARFT, and TS exhibited Loewe synergy at either 2.3 or 78 microM folic acid. Thus, the ideal requirement for the folic acid-enhanced synergy is that a nonpolyglutamylatable DHFR inhibitor be combined with a polyglutamylatable inhibitor of another folate-requiring enzyme. A hypothesis to explain this general phenomenon involves the critical role of folylpoly-gamma-glutamate synthetase and the effect of the DHFR inhibitor in decreasing the protection by folic acid of cells to the other antifolates.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1997

Effect of polymer foam morphology and density on kinetics of in vitro controlled release of isoniazid from compressed foam matrices.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of polymer foam morphology and density prior to compaction on the kinetics of isoniazid (INH) release from the final high-density extruded matrices. The feasibility of preparing low density foams of several biopolymers, including poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), poly(glycolide) (PGA), poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG), and poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF), via a lyophilization technique was investigated. Low-density foams of PLGA, PBLG, and a mixture of PLGA and PPF were successfully fabricated by lyophilization of the frozen polymer solutions either in glacial acetic acid or in benzene. The morphology of these foams depends on the polymer as well as the solvent used in the fabrication process. Thus, PLGA produces a capillary structure when lyophilized from benzene solution and a leaflet structure from glacial acetic acid, but PBLG yields a leaflet structure from benzene. Matrices were prepared by impregnating these foams with aqueous solutions of INH, removing the water by a second lyophilization, and then compressing the low-density INH containing foams by compaction and high-pressure extrusion. The resulting nonporous matrices had densities of approximately 1.30 g/cm3. In vitro kinetics were in accord with the Roseman-Higuchi diffusion model and demonstrate that release rates depend on the initial foam density, while foam structure has little influence on the release kinetics.

Antitubercular Agents↗
PubMed1990

Biodegradation of copoly(L-aspartic acid/L-glutamic acid) in vitro.

The preparation of copolypeptides consisting of L-aspartic acid and L-glutamic acid was performed to determine the effects of copolymer composition and sequential distributions on the rate of degradation by papain in a PECF (pseudoextracellular fluid) at pH 4.75 and 7.40, at 37.0 degrees C, to simulate in vivo polymer degradation. Random copolymers consisting of beta-benzyl L-aspartate and gamma-benzyl L-glutamate were synthesized by the N-carboxyanhydride method. Water-soluble copolymers were obtained by successive reactions of side chains by anhydrous HBr treatment. All the samples were found to be degraded by random chain scission with papain. Further, the degradation data for the samples followed the Michaelis-Menten rate law, being the first order in papain concentration. The nature of side chains are important to the rate of degradation by papain and it was controlled by the comonomer composition as well as the sequential distribution of comonomers in the copolymer chains.

Aspartic Acid↗
PubMed2005

Simultaneous and selective production of levan and poly(gamma-glutamic acid) by Bacillus subtilis.

Bacillus subtilis(natto) Takahashi, used to prepare the fermented soybean product natto, was grown in a basal medium containing 5% (w/w) sucrose and 1.5% (w/w) L-glutamate and produced 58% (w/w) poly(gamma-glutamic acid) and 42% (w/w) levan simultaneously. After 21 h, 40-50 mg levan ml-1 had been produced in medium containing 20% (w/w) sucrose but without L-glutamate. In medium containing L-glutamic acid but without sucrose, mainly poly(gamma-glutamic acid) was produced.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1992

Class II tubulin, the major brain beta tubulin isotype is polyglutamylated on glutamic acid residue 435.

Protein sequencing shows that porcine brain tubulin retains the N-terminal sequences of alpha and beta tubulin after a mild treatment with subtilisin. C-terminal peptides released by subtilisin were purified and characterized by automated Edman degradation and mass spectrometry. We confirm the polyglutamylation of alpha tubulin on glutamic acid residue 445 reported by others and show in addition that class II beta tubulin, the major beta tubulin isotype of adult brain, is also polyglutamylated. The substitution is restricted to glutamic acid residue 435. Thus all major tubulin isotypes of adult brain are subjected to polyglutamylation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Gamma-poly(glutamic acid) formation by Bacillus licheniformis 9945a: physiological and biochemical studies.

Cryogenically frozen vegetative cells of Bacillus licheniformis 9945a derived from young mucoid colonies were used to inoculate gamma-poly(glutamate) (gamma-PGA) production media containing L-glutamate, citrate and glycerol as carbon sources. A gel permeation chromatography (GPC) method was developed to determine gamma-PGA volumetric yield and molecular weight directly using culture filtrates. For GPC volumetric yield measurements, a calibration curve was generated using purified gamma-PGA to relate the gamma-PGA GPC peak area and polymer weight. Purified gamma-PGA was characterized by elemental analysis, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. Cultures of B. licheniformis using all three carbon sources showed the following characteristics: cell growth mainly during the first 24 h; largest gamma-PGA volumetric productivity (approximately 0.12 gl-1 h-1) between 48 and 96 h; 11 g l-1 gamma-PGA volumetric yield by 96 h; reduction (utilization) of glycerol, glutamate and citrate during a 96 h cultivation time from 80 to 45 g l-1, 18 to 10 g l-1 and 12 to approximately 1 g l-1, respectively; a decrease in pH from 7.4 to approximately 5.5 by 42 h cultivation; acetic acid secretion into the medium at a maximum level of approximately 4.5 g l-1 and detection of the metabolite 2,3-butanediol (as acetoin) as a fermentation by-product at approximately 42 h and through a 96 h cultivation period. The presence of 2,3-butanediol indicated that the level of oxygen in the medium no longer supported a fully aerobic mode of metabolism. When the medium formulation was altered by removal of either citrate, L-glutamate or glycerol in shake flask experiments where pH was not controlled, 2.3, 9.0 and 4.0 g l-1, respectively, of gamma-PGA were formed. Variation of the medium ionic strength by the addition of up to 4% (w/v) NaCl led to the formation of gamma-PGA of relatively higher molecular weight but lower volumetric yield. Studies carried out on 5-day-old B. licheniformis cultures suggested that gamma-PGA depolymerase is intracellularly located or cell-bound. Culture filtrates showed no significant gamma-PGA depolymerase activity.

Acetates↗
PubMed1995

Effects of manganese (II) on Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945A physiology and gamma-poly(glutamic acid) formation.

Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945A was cultivated in shake flasks using citrate (12 gl-1), glutamate (20 gl-1) and glycerol (80 gl-1) as carbon sources for cell growth and gamma-poly(glutamic acid) (gamma-PGA) production. The effect of the MnSO4 concentration in the medium over a range from 0.0 to 615 microns was studied. The number of viable cells increased for all concentrations of MnSO4 from approximately 10(5) to 10(9) colony-forming units (cfu) ml-1 by the early stationary phase (24 h). However, after 50 h, the cell viability decreased rapidly for relatively lower MnSO4 concentrations (0.615 and 0 microns). The utilization of carbon sources by B. licheniformis was greater for cultures containing 33.8 and 615 microns MnSO4 relative to cultures with no added MnSO4. For example, cultures with 615 microns MnSO4 utilized 37, 54 and 93% and cultures with no added MnSO4 utilized 19, 10 and 17% of glutamate, glycerol and citrate, respectively. The gamma-PGA volumetric yield increased from approximately 5 to 17 gl-1 for corresponding increases in MnSO4 concentration from 0 to 33.8 microns and then decreased at higher MnSO4 concentrations. The stereochemical content of gamma-PGA was found to vary inversely with MnSO4 concentration, and ranged from 59 to 10% L-glutamate units for MnSO4 concentrations of 0 and 615 microns, respectively. For all of the MnSO4 concentrations investigated, the gamma-PGA molecular weights decreased rapidly as the gamma-PGA volumetric yield simultaneously increased for cultivation times from 24 to approximately 50 h. Mw and Mn values after approximately 50 h cultivation times, determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), were 1.3 to 1.6 and 0.5 to 0.8 million g mol-1, respectively. A complex gamma-PGA molecular weight distribution that appeared bimodal by GPC analysis due to the presence of a low-molecular-weight product fraction was observed in cultures containing 33.8 and 61.5 microns MnSO4 at extended cultivation times. A high-molecular-weight fraction and the unfractionated gamma-PGA sample from the 33.8 microns MnSO4 culture contained 13 +/- 4 and 30 +/- 1% L-repeat units, respectively. A relationship between the product molecular weight and its stereochemical composition was thus established.

Bacillus↗
PubMed2003

Effect of polyglutamylation of methotrexate on its accumulation and the development of resistance in the protozoan parasite Leishmania.

Folates are polyglutamylated in most organisms, and in cancer cells the polyglutamylation of folates and of the antifolate methotrexate (MTX) is an important determinant of MTX susceptibility. The folylpolyglutamate synthetase (FPGS) responsible for polyglutamylation of folates was recently characterized in the parasite Leishmania. We show here that MTX is polyglutamylated in Leishmania tarentolae and that triglutamates are the predominant form. The glutamate chain length of MTX increases significantly in Leishmania cells transfected with the FPGS gene and decreases in cells with one FPGS allele disrupted. Modulation in the expression of the FPGS gene also has a profound effect on MTX susceptibility and this effect was found to be dependent on the folate concentration of the medium. In the folate-rich medium SDM-79, overexpression of FPGS will confer MTX resistance while in M-199 medium, which has much less folates, FPGS transfectants are more sensitive to MTX. Cells with one allele of FPGS disrupted are more resistant to MTX in low folate medium. The modulation of FPGS expression affects both the short-term and long-term accumulation of folate and MTX, showing a marked decrease in accumulation in the FPGS haploid mutant. This differential accumulation was mediated by decreased influx of the drug into the cell. Finally, the analysis of MTX-resistant Leishmania mutants indicated that the presence of shorter glutamate chains on MTX is correlated with MTX resistance.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Kinetics of local helix formation in poly-L-glutamic acid studied by time-resolved photoacoustics: neutralization reactions of carboxylates in aqueous solutions and their relevance to the problem of protein folding.

Photoactivatable caged protons have been used to trigger proton transfer reactions in aqueous solutions of acetate, glutamate, and poly-L-glutamic acid, and the volumetric and enthalpic changes have been detected and characterized by means of time-resolved photoacoustics. Neutralization of carboxylates in aqueous solutions invariably results in an expansion of the solution due to the disappearance of two charges and is accompanied by little enthalpic change. The reactions occur with thermally activated, apparent bimolecular rates on the order of 10(10) M(-1)s(-1). In the case of aqueous solutions of poly-L-glutamic acid at pH around the pK(a) of the coil-to-helix transition, diffusional binding of a proton by carboxylates is followed by a sequential reaction with rate 1.06 (+/- 0.05) x 10(7)s(-1). This step is not thermally activated in the temperature range we have investigated and is likely related to local formation of hydrogen bonds near the protonation site. This structural event may constitute a rate-limiting step in helix propagation.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1997

Facile synthesis of block copolypeptides of defined architecture.

Many natural polymeric materials (particularly structural proteins) display a hierarchy of structure over several length scales. Block copolymers are able to self-assemble into ordered nanostructures, but the random-coiled nature of their polymer chains usually suppresses any further levels of organization. The use of components with regular structures, such as rigid-rod polymers, can increase the extent of spatial organization in self-assembling materials. But the synthesis of such polymeric components typically involves complicated reaction steps that are not suitable for large-scale production. Proteins form hierarchically organized structures in which the fundamental motifs are generally alpha-helical coils and beta-sheets. Attempts to synthesize polypeptides with well-defined amino-acid sequences, which might adopt similar organized structures, have been plagued by unwanted side reactions that give rise to products with a wide range of molecular weights, hampering the formation of well-defined peptide block copolymers. Here I describe a polymerization strategy that overcomes these difficulties by using organonickel initiators which suppress chain-transfer and termination side reactions. This approach allows the facile synthesis of block copolypeptides with well-defined sequences, which might provide new peptide-based biomaterials with potential applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery and biomimetic composite formation.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed2006

Efficient production of poly-gamma-glutamic acid by Bacillus subtilis ZJU-7.

A strain with high poly-gamma-glutamic acid (gamma-PGA) production was isolated from fermented bean curd, a traditional Chinese food. The strain was named Bacillus subtilis ZJU-7 according to 16s rDNA sequencing and its taxonomic characters. The culture conditions for gamma-PGA production were evaluated. The most suitable carbon and nitrogen sources were sucrose and tryptone, respectively. Exogenous L-glutamic acid was necessary for gamma-PGA production, and the production of gamma-PGA increased on the addition of L-glutamic acid to the medium. In the medium containing 60 g/L of sucrose, 60 g/L of tryptone, 80 g/L of L-glutamic acid, and 10 g/L of NaCl, the yield of gamma-PGA reached 54.4 g/L after cultivation at 37 degrees C for 24 h, which was the highest gamma-PGA production compared with values reported in the literature. The average molecular mass of gamma-PGA produced was about 1.24 x 106 Daltons. B. subtilis ZJU-7 is genetically stable and can synthesize levan instead of gamma-PGA without the addition of L-glutamic acid to the medium.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed2001

[Effects of metal ions on gamma-poly (glutamic acid) synthesis by Bacillus licheniformis].

In the course of gamma-poly (glutamic acid) gamma-PGA fermentation, metal ions K+, Mg2+, Fe3+, Ca2+, Mo6+, Mn2+, Co2+ and Zn2+ in the medium have certain effects on the synthesis of gamma-poly(glutamic acid). Excess or lack of K+, Mg2+ and Fe3+ results in reduced yield of gamma-PGA. It was found that the gamma-PGA synthesis by Bacillus licheniformis was promoted obviously by Ca2+ and Mo6+. Synthesis and stereochemical composition of gamma-PGA was greatly regulated by Mn2+. gamma-PGA was not produced without Mn2+ in medium, and with the increase of Zn2+ concentration the yield of gamma-PGA and the proportion of D-glutamic acid in the peptide increase. Regulative effect of Co2+ and Zn2+ was almost the same as that of Mn2+, thus the combination of Mn2+, Co2+ cannot enhance gamma-PGA synthesis and affect stereochemical composition of gamma-PGA. Based on the experimental date, an appropriate formulation of metal ions in the medium for gamma-PGA production was obtained.

Bacillus↗
PubMed1992

Mechanisms of natural resistance to antifolates in human soft tissue sarcomas.

Efforts to use fresh human sarcoma cells for evaluating antifolate resistance with an in situ thymidylate synthesis assay using 5-[3H] deoxyuridine were unsuccessful because of low thymidylate synthesis activity in enzymatically disaggregated tumors. By incubating tumor cell suspensions in supplemented RPMI-1640 medium with 10% fetal bovine serum for 3 days, activity of the in situ thymidylate synthesis assay markedly increased (1.42 versus 0.03 pmol/h/10(7) cells), thus allowing 75% of samples to be evaluated for antifolate sensitivity. By criteria developed with a methotrexate-resistant and -sensitive cell line, this assay indicated that most sarcomas are naturally resistant to methotrexate (12 of 15). Natural resistance to 10-ethyl-10-deazaaminopterin and trimetrexate was also observed in 60% of the samples (nine of 15, respectively). The results from the 3-day in situ assay were confirmed by specific tests for resistance mechanisms in most sarcoma samples. The resistance mechanisms detected were impaired polyglutamylation, an increased level of dihydrofolate reductase, and amplification of this gene. These results encourage further exploration of this assay to predict response to antifolates in individual patients and to evaluate efficacy of new antifolates as candidates for clinical trial.

Aminopterin↗