Development of artemisinin drugs in the treatment of autoimmune diseases

TPN10475 Constrains Effector T Lymphocytes Activation and Attenuates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Pathogenesis by Facilitating TGF-β Signal Transduction

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) mediated by immune cells, in which auto-reactive CD4+ T cells have been implicated as a major driver in the pathogenesis of the disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the artemisinin derivative TPN10475 could alleviate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a commonly used animal model of MS and its possible mechanisms. TPN10475 effectively resisted the reduction of TGF-β signal transduction induced by TCR stimulation, suppressed the activation and function of effector CD4+ T cells in vitro, and restricted the differentiation of pathogenic Th1 and Th17 cells. It was also found to negatively regulate the inflammatory response in EAE by reducing the peripheral activation drive of auto-reactive helper T lymphocytes, inhibiting the migration of inflammatory cells into the CNS to attenuate EAE. The above results suggested that the upregulation of TGF-β signal transduction may provide new ideas for the study of MS pathogenesis and have positive implications for the development of drugs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Advanced metabolic engineering strategies for increasing artemisinin yield in Artemisia annua L

Artemisinin, also known as 'Qinghaosu', is a chemically sesquiterpene lactone containing an endoperoxide bridge. Due to the high activity to kill Plasmodium parasites, artemisinin and its derivatives have continuously served as the foundation for antimalarial therapies. Natural artemisinin is unique to the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua L., and its content in this plant is low. This has motivated the synthesis of this bioactive compound using yeast, tobacco, and Physcomitrium patens systems. However, the artemisinin production in these heterologous hosts is low and cannot fulfil its increasing clinical demand. Therefore, A. annua plants remain the major source of this bioactive component. Recently, the transcriptional regulatory networks related to artemisinin biosynthesis and glandular trichome formation have been extensively studied in A. annua. Various strategies including (i) enhancing the metabolic flux in artemisinin biosynthetic pathway; (ii) blocking competition branch pathways; (iii) using transcription factors (TFs); (iv) increasing peltate glandular secretory trichome (GST) density; (v) applying exogenous factors; and (vi) phytohormones have been used to improve artemisinin yields. Here we summarize recent scientific advances and achievements in artemisinin metabolic engineering, and discuss prospects in the development of high-artemisinin yielding A. annua varieties. This review provides new insights into revealing the transcriptional regulatory networks of other high-value plant-derived natural compounds (e.g., taxol, vinblastine, and camptothecin), as well as glandular trichome formation. It is also helpful for the researchers who intend to promote natural compounds production in other plants species.

AabHLH113 integrates jasmonic acid and abscisic acid signaling to positively regulate artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annua

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Artemisia annua, is in huge market demand due to its efficient antimalarial action, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many researchers have elucidated that phytohormones jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) positively regulate artemisinin biosynthesis via types of transcription factors (TFs). However, the crosstalk between JA and ABA in regulating artemisinin biosynthesis remains unclear. Here, we identified a novel ABA- and JA-induced bHLH TF, AabHLH113, which positively regulated artemisinin biosynthesis by directly binding to the promoters of artemisinin biosynthetic genes, DBR2 and ALDH1. The contents of artemisinin and dihydroartemisinic acid increased by 1.71- to 2.06-fold and 1.47- to 2.23-fold, respectively, in AabHLH1113 overexpressed A. annua, whereas they decreased by 14-36% and 26-53%, respectively, in RNAi-AabHLH113 plants. Furthermore, we demonstrated that AabZIP1 and AabHLH112, which, respectively, participate in ABA and JA signaling pathway to regulate artemisinin biosynthesis, directly bind to and activate the promoter of AabHLH113. Collectively, we revealed a complex network in which AabHLH113 plays a key interrelational role to integrate ABA- and JA-mediated regulation of artemisinin biosynthesis.

Artemisinin hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex loaded with porous starch for enhanced bioavailability

The current work aimed to enhance the oral bioavailability of water-insoluble drug Artemisinin (ART) by the inclusion of ART with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and then loaded with porous starch (PS). The preparation conditions of ART HP-β-CD inclusion complex loaded with PS (AHPS) were optimized according to drug loading (DL) and entrapment efficiency (EE). The properties of AHPS were characterized by optical and thermodynamic methods. ART was linked by hydrogen bond to HP-β-CD to form hydrophilic supramolecules, which are loaded into PS under the action of hydrogen bond. The maximum DL and EE of AHPS were about 16.51% and 67.26%, respectively. Then we investigated the physicochemical properties and antimalarial activity of AHPS. The solubility and bioavailability of AHPS at 48 h were higher than ART and market ART piperaquine tablets (APT), and showed better antimalarial activity in vitro and vivo. It provides a new idea for the development and application of fat-soluble drug.

Teaching an old dog new tricks: drug discovery by repositioning natural products and their derivatives

Given the substantial cost and low success rate of drug discovery and development, repositioning existing drugs to treat new diseases has gained significant attention in recent years, with potentially lower development costs and shorter time frames. Natural products show great promise in drug repositioning because they have been used for various medical purposes for thousands of years. In this review, we discuss the drug repositioning of six prototypical natural products and their derivatives to reveal new drug-disease associations. We also highlight opportunities and challenges in natural product-based drug repositioning for future reference.

Agonist and antagonist ligands of toll-like receptors 7 and 8: Ingenious tools for therapeutic purposes

The discovery of the TLRs family and more precisely its functions opened a variety of gates to modulate immunological host responses. TLRs 7/8 are located in the endosomal compartment and activate a specific signaling pathway in a MyD88-dependant manner. According to their involvement into various autoimmune, inflammatory and malignant diseases, researchers have designed diverse TLRs 7/8 ligands able to boost or block the inherent signal transduction. These modulators are often small synthetic compounds and most act as agonists and to a much lesser extent as antagonists. Some of them have reached preclinical and clinical trials, and only one has been approved by the FDA and EMA, imiquimod. The key to the success of these modulators probably lies in their combination with other therapies as recently demonstrated. We gather in this review more than 360 scientific publications, reviews and patents, relating the extensive work carried out by researchers on the design of TLRs 7/8 modulators, which are classified firstly by their biological activities (agonist or antagonist) and then by their chemical structures, which total syntheses are not discussed here. This review also reports about 90 clinical cases, thereby showing the biological interest of these modulators in multiple pathologies.

Simultaneous Quantification of Five Sesquiterpene Components after Ultrasound Extraction in Artemisia annua L. by an Accurate and Rapid UPLC⁻PDA Assay

Objective: To develop an accurate and rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with a photodiode array (PDA) method for the simultaneous determination of artemisinin (Art), arteannuin B (Art B), arteannuin C (Art C), dihydroartemisinic acid (DHAA) and artemisinic acid (AA) in Artemisia annua L. Methodology: Chromatography separation was performed on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 Column with isocratic elution; the mobile phase was 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution (A) and acetonitrile (B) (A:B = 40:60, v/v). Data were recorded at an ultraviolet (UV) wavelength of 191 nm for Art, Art C, DHAA and AA, and 206 nm for Art B. Results: The calibration curves of the five sesquiterpene components were all linear with correlation coefficients more than 0.9990. The linear ranges were 31.44–1572 μg/mL, 25.48–1274 μg/mL, 40.56–2028 μg/mL, 31.44–1572 μg/mL and 26.88–1396 μg/mL for Art, Art B, Art C, DHAA and AA, respectively. The precision ranged from 0.08% to 2.88%, the stability was from 0.96% to 1.66%, and the repeatability was all within 2.42% and had a mean extraction recovery of 96.5% to 100.6%. Conclusion: The established UPLC–PDA method would be valuable for improving the quantitative analysis of sesquiterpene components in Artemisia annua L.

Dihydroartemisinin derivative DC32 attenuates collagen-induced arthritis in mice by restoring the Treg/Th17 balance and inhibiting synovitis through down-regulation of IL-6

Imbalance of Treg/Th17 and chronic synovitis characterized by the recruitment and infiltration of inflammatory cells are the typical features of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). IL-6 promotes the differentiation and function of Th17 cells, which contributes to the imbalance of Treg/Th17 and aggravates lymphocytic infiltration in joints. DC32, a dihydroartemisinin derivative, was found to have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities in previous study. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects and mechanisms of DC32 in immunodeficiency and inflammatory infiltration of RA. In vivo, the antirheumatic effect of DC32 was evaluated in a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model in DBA/1 mice. The percentages of Treg and Th17 and transcription of IL-6 in the spleen were assayed. In vitro, a coculture system of ConA-activated lymphocytes and fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) from rat with adjuvant arthritis (AA) was established. The effects and mechanisms of DC32 on synovitis were investigated. It was shown that DC32 inhibited footpad swelling and lymphocytic infiltration in mice with CIA and significantly restored the Treg/Th17 balance by reducing the transcription of IL-6 in splenocytes. DC32 significantly inhibited the lymphocyte-induced invasion and migration of FLSs by decreasing the secretion of MMPs (MMP-2, MMP-3) in vitro. DC32 also reduced the transcription of chemokines (CXCL12, CX3CL1) and IL-6 in FLSs, as well as IL-6 levels in the supernatant. These results demonstrated that DC32 may attenuate RA by restoring Treg/Th17 balance and inhibiting lymphocytic infiltration through downregulation of the expression and transcription of IL-6. This study supports the potential of DC32 to down-regulate IL-6 for the treatment of RA and other related autoimmune diseases.

Systematic identification of functional residues of Artemisia annua amorpha-4,11-diene synthase

Terpene synthases (TPSs) are responsible for the extremely diversified and complex structure of terpenoids. Amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS) has a high (90%) fidelity in generating the sesquiterpene precursor for the biosynthesis of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug, however, little is known about how active site residues of ADS are involved in carbocation rearrangement and cyclization reactions. Here, we identify seven residues that are key to most of the catalytic steps in ADS. By structural modeling and amino acid sequence alignments of ADS with two functionally relevant sesquiterpene synthases from Artemisia annua, we performed site-directed mutagenesis and found that a single substitution, T296V, impaired the ring closure activity almost completely, and tetra-substitutions (L374Y/L404V/L405I/G439S) led to an enzyme generating 80% monocyclic bisabolyl-type sesquiterpenes, whereas a double mutant (T399L/T447G) showed compromised activity in regioselective deprotonation to yield 34.7 and 37.7% normal and aberrant deprotonation products, respectively. Notably, Thr296, Leu374, Gly439, Thr399, and Thr447, which play a major role in directing catalytic cascades, are located around conserved metal-binding motifs and function through impacting the folding of the substrate/intermediate, implying that residues surrounding the two motifs could be valuable targets for engineering TPS activity. Using this knowledge, we substantially increased amorpha-4,11-diene production in a near-additive manner by engineering Thr399 and Thr447 for product release. Our results provide new insight for the rational design of enzyme activity using synthetic biology.

Novel dihydroisoxazoline-alkyl carbon chain hybrid artemisinin analogues (artemalogs): synthesis and antitumor activities

Two new series of dihydroisoxazoline-alkyl carbon chain hybrid artemisinin analogues (artemalogs) were designed and synthesized though a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, leading to novel analogues with dramatically improved antiproliferative effects against tumor cells.