Stereochemical comparison of nebivolol with other β-blockers

The Adrenergic Receptor Antagonist Carvedilol Elicits Anti-Tumor Responses in Uveal Melanoma 3D Tumor Spheroids and May Serve as Co-Adjuvant Therapy with Radiation

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common intraocular tumor in adults. Despite local tumor control, no effective therapy has been found to prevent metastasis, resulting in a high mortality rate. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-tumor potential of non-selective ß-blockers in 3D tumor spheroids grown from UM cell lines. Of the various ß-blockers tested, carvedilol and its enantiomers were most potent in decreasing the viability of Mel270 spheroids. Carvedilol at a concentration of 10–50 µM significantly elicited cytotoxicity and induced apoptosis in spheroid cells. In result, carvedilol inhibited tumor spheroid growth and compactness, and furthermore prevented the long-term survival and repopulation of spreading spheroid cells. The drug sensitivity of the different spheroids grown from Mel270, 92-1, UPMD2, or UPMM3 cell lines was dependent on 3D morphology rather than on high-risk cytogenetic profile or adrenergic receptor expression levels. In fact, the monosomy-3-containing UPMM3 cell line was most responsive to carvedilol treatment compared to the other cell lines. The concurrent treatment of UPMM3 spheroids with carvedilol and 5 or 10 Gy irradiation revealed additive cytotoxic effects that provided tumor control. Collectively, our data demonstrate the anti-tumor properties of carvedilol and its enantiomers, which may serve as candidates for the co-adjuvant therapy of UM.

Computational and Biological Evaluation of β-Adrenoreceptor Blockers as Promising Bacterial Anti-Virulence Agents

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is an increasing public health threat as it has the potential to affect people at any stage of life, as well as veterinary. Various approaches have been proposed to counteract the bacterial resistance development. Tackling bacterial virulence is one of the most promising approaches that confer several merits. The bacterial virulence is mainly regulated by a communication system known as quorum sensing (QS) system. Meanwhile, bacteria can sense the adrenergic hormones and eavesdrops on the host cells to establish their infection, adrenergic hormones were shown to enhance the bacterial virulence. In this study, β-adrenoreceptor blockers were proposed not only to stop bacterial espionage on our cells but also as inhibitors to the bacterial QS systems. In this context, a detailed in silico study has been conducted to evaluate the affinities of twenty-two β-blockers to compete on different structural QS receptors. Among the best docked and thermodynamically stable β-blockers; atenolol, esmolol, and metoprolol were subjected to further in vitro and in vivo investigation to evaluate their anti-QS activities against Chromobacterium violaceum, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium. The three tested β-blockers decreased the production of QS-controlled C. violaceum, and the formation of biofilm by P. aeruginosa and S. typhimurium. Additionally, the tested β-blockers down-regulated the P. aeruginosa QS-encoding genes and S. typhimurium sensor kinase encoding genes. Furthermore, metoprolol protected mice against P. aeruginosa and S. typhimurium. Conclusively, these investigated β-blockers are promising anti-virulence agents antagonizing adrenergic hormones induced virulence, preventing bacterial espionage, and blocking bacterial QS systems.

Virtual and In Vitro Antiviral Screening Revive Therapeutic Drugs for COVID-19

The urgent need for a cure for early phase COVID-19 infected patients critically underlines drug repositioning strategies able to efficiently identify new and reliable treatments by merging computational, experimental, and pharmacokinetic expertise. Here we report new potential therapeutics for COVID-19 identified with a combined virtual and experimental screening strategy and selected among already approved drugs. We used hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), one of the most studied drugs in current clinical trials, as a reference template to screen for structural similarity against a library of almost 4000 approved drugs. The top-ranked drugs, based on structural similarity to HCQ, were selected for in vitro antiviral assessment. Among the selected drugs, both zuclopenthixol and nebivolol efficiently block SARS-CoV-2 infection with EC50 values in the low micromolar range, as confirmed by independent experiments. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential of ambroxol, amodiaquine, and its active metabolite (N-monodesethyl amodiaquine) is also discussed. In trying to understand the "hydroxychloroquine" mechanism of action, both pK a and the HCQ aromatic core may play a role. Further, we show that the amodiaquine metabolite and, to a lesser extent, zuclopenthixol and nebivolol are active in a SARS-CoV-2 titer reduction assay. Given the need for improved efficacy and safety, we propose zuclopenthixol, nebivolol, and amodiaquine as potential candidates for clinical trials against the early phase of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and discuss their potential use as adjuvant to the current (i.e., remdesivir and favipiravir) COVID-19 therapeutics.

Three Generations of β-blockers: History, Class Differences and Clinical Applicability

BACKGROUND

Beta-adrenergic receptors are expressed in cardiomyocytes and activated by either noradrenaline released from sympathetic synapses or circulating catecholamines. Their corresponding receptors have three subtypes, namely, β1, β2 and β3, which are members of the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) family. Activation of β1-adrenergic receptors causes various physiological reactions including cardiac contraction and renin secretion from juxtaglomerular cells of the kidney. Antagonists of β-adrenergic receptors, known as β-blockers, have been used effectively for over four decades and have beneficial effects in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. There are three generations of β-blockers according to their pharmacological properties. Firstgeneration β-blockers are non-selective, blocking both β1- and β2-receptors; second-generation β- blockers are more cardioselective in that they are more selective for β1-receptors; and thirdgeneration β-blockers are highly selective drugs for β1-receptors. The latter also display vasodilator actions by blocking α1-adrenoreceptors and activating β3-adrenergic receptors. In addition, thirdgeneration β-blockers exhibit angiogenic, antioxidant, anti-proliferative, anti-hypertrophic and antiapoptotic activities among other effects that are still under investigation.

CONCLUSION

The objective of this review is to describe the evolution observed during the development of the three distinctive generations, thereby highlighting the advantages of third-generation β- blockers over the other two drug classes.

Survey of Pharmacological Activity and Pharmacokinetics of Selected β-Adrenergic Blockers in Regard to Their Stereochemistry

The present survey concentrates on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of selected β-adrenergic blockers from the point of view of their stereochemistry. It could be shown that the activity in the arylaminoethanol and aryloxyaminopropanol group of β-blockers is higher in their (–)-enantiomers as compared with the (+)-enantiomers. The stereoisomers differ also in other types of bioactivity as well as in toxicity. The particular pharmacokinetic stages such as resorption, distribution, and metabolism are discussed in regard to their stereochemistry.

Lipid simulations: a perspective on lipids in action

In this article, we provide an overview of lipid simulations, describing how a computer can be used as a laboratory for lipid research. We briefly discuss the methodology of lipid simulations followed by a number of topical applications that show the benefit of computer modeling for complementing experiments. In particular, we show examples of cases in which simulations have made predictions of novel phenomena that have later been confirmed by experimental studies. Overall, the applications discussed in this article focus on the most recent state of the art and aim to provide a perspective of where the field of lipid simulations stands at the moment.