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Matsubara Y, Okabe R, Masayama R, Watanabe NM, Umakoshi H, Kasahara K, Matubayasi N. A methodology of quantifying membrane permeability based on returning probability theory and molecular dynamics simulation. J Chem Phys 2024; 161:024108. [PMID: 38984955 DOI: 10.1063/5.0214401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
We propose a theoretical approach to estimate the permeability coefficients of substrates (permeants) for crossing membranes from donor (D) phase to acceptor (A) phase by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. A fundamental aspect of our approach involves reformulating the returning probability (RP) theory, a rigorous bimolecular reaction theory, to describe permeation phenomena. This reformulation relies on the parallelism between permeation and bimolecular reaction processes. In the present method, the permeability coefficient is represented in terms of the thermodynamic and kinetic quantities for the reactive (R) phase that exists within the inner region of a membrane. One can evaluate these quantities using multiple MD trajectories starting from phase R. We apply the RP theory to the permeation of ethanol and methylamine at different concentrations (infinitely dilute and 1 mol % conditions of permeants). Under the 1 mol% condition, the present method yields a larger permeability coefficient for ethanol (0.12 ± 0.01 cm s-1) than for methylamine (0.069 ± 0.006 cm s-1), while the values of the permeability coefficient are satisfactorily close to those obtained from the brute-force MD simulations (0.18 ± 0.03 and 0.052 ± 0.005 cm s-1 for ethanol and methylamine, respectively). Moreover, upon analyzing the thermodynamic and kinetic contributions to the permeability, we clarify that a higher concentration dependency of permeability for ethanol, as compared to methylamine, arises from the sensitive nature of ethanol's free-energy barrier within the inner region of the membrane against ethanol concentration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuya Matsubara
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
| | - Ryo Okabe
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
| | - Ren Masayama
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
| | - Nozomi Morishita Watanabe
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Umakoshi
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
| | - Kento Kasahara
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
| | - Nobuyuki Matubayasi
- Division of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan
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Harris J, Chipot C, Roux B. How is Membrane Permeation of Small Ionizable Molecules Affected by Protonation Kinetics? J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:795-811. [PMID: 38227958 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c06765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2024]
Abstract
According to the pH-partition hypothesis, the aqueous solution adjacent to a membrane is a mixture of the ionization states of the permeating molecule at fixed Henderson-Hasselbalch concentrations, such that each state passes through the membrane in parallel with its own specific permeability. An alternative view, based on the assumption that the rate of switching ionization states is instantaneous, represents the permeation of ionizable molecules via an effective Boltzmann-weighted average potential (BWAP). Such an assumption is used in constant-pH molecular dynamics simulations. The inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion framework can be used to compute the pH-dependent membrane permeability for each of these two limiting treatments. With biased WTM-eABF molecular dynamics simulations, we computed the potential of mean force and diffusivity of each ionization state of two weakly basic small molecules: nicotine, an addictive drug, and varenicline, a therapeutic for treating nicotine addiction. At pH = 7, the BWAP effective permeability is greater than that determined by pH-partitioning by a factor of 2.5 for nicotine and 5 for varenicline. To assess the importance of ionization kinetics, we present a Smoluchowski master equation that includes explicitly the protonation and deprotonation processes coupled with the diffusive motion across the membrane. At pH = 7, the increase in permeability due to the explicit ionization kinetics is negligible for both nicotine and varenicline. This finding is reaffirmed by combined Brownian dynamics and Markov state model simulations for estimating the permeability of nicotine while allowing changes in its ionization state. We conclude that for these molecules the pH-partition hypothesis correctly captures the physics of the permeation process. The small free energy barriers for the permeation of nicotine and varenicline in their deprotonated neutral forms play a crucial role in establishing the validity of the pH-partitioning mechanism. Essentially, BWAP fails because ionization kinetics are too slow on the time scale of membrane crossing to affect the permeation of small ionizable molecules such as nicotine and varenicline. For the singly protonated state of nicotine, the computational results agree well with experimental measurements (P1 = 1.29 × 10-7 cm/s), but the agreement for neutral (P0 = 6.12 cm/s) and doubly protonated nicotine (P2 = 3.70 × 10-13 cm/s) is slightly worse, likely due to factors associated with the aqueous boundary layer (neutral form) or leaks through paracellular pathways (doubly protonated form).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Harris
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 5735 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Christophe Chipot
- Laboratoire International Associé Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Unité Mixte de Recherche n◦7019, Université de Lorraine, B.P. 70239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France
- Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, Beckman Institute, and Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 5735 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Benoît Roux
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 5735 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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3
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Chipot C. Predictions from First-Principles of Membrane Permeability to Small Molecules: How Useful Are They in Practice? J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:4533-4544. [PMID: 37449868 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Predicting from first-principles the rate of passive permeation of small molecules across the biological membrane represents a promising strategy for screening lead compounds upstream in the drug-discovery and development pipeline. One popular avenue for the estimation of permeation rates rests on computer simulations in conjunction with the inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model, which requires the determination of the free-energy change and position-dependent diffusivity of the substrate along the translocation pathway through the lipid bilayer. In this Perspective, we will clarify the physical meaning of the membrane permeability inferred from such computer simulations, and how theoretical predictions actually relate to what is commonly measured experimentally. We will also examine why these calculations remain both technically challenging and overly computationally expensive, which has hitherto precluded their routine use in nonacademic settings. We finally synopsize possible research directions to meet these challenges, increase the predictive power of physics-based rates of passive permeation, and, by ricochet, improve their practical usefulness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Chipot
- Laboratoire International Associé Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Unité Mixte de Recherche n◦7019, Université de Lorraine, 54500 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy cedex, France
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61820, United States
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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4
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Benmameri M, Chantemargue B, Humeau A, Trouillas P, Fabre G. MemCross: Accelerated Weight Histogram method to assess membrane permeability. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA. BIOMEMBRANES 2023; 1865:184120. [PMID: 36669638 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2023.184120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Passive permeation events across biological membranes are determining steps in the pharmacokinetics of xenobiotics. To reach an accurate and rapid prediction of membrane permeation coefficients of drugs is a complex challenge, which can efficiently support drug discovery. Such predictions are indeed highly valuable as they may guide the selection of potential leads with optimum bioavailabilities prior to synthesis. Theoretical models exist to predict these coefficients. Many of them are based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, which allow calculation of permeation coefficients through the evaluation of both the potential of mean force (PMF) and the diffusivity profiles. However, these simulations still require intensive computational efforts, and novel methodologies should be developed and benchmarked. Free energy perturbation (FEP) method was recently shown to estimate PMF with a significantly reduced computational cost compared to the adaptive biasing force method. This benchmarking was achieved with small molecules, namely short-chain alcohols. Here, we show that to estimate the PMF of bulkier, drug-like xenobiotics, conformational sampling is a critical issue. To reach a sufficient sampling with FEP calculations requires a relatively long time-scale, which can lower the benefits related to the computational gain. In the present work, the Accelerated Weight Histogram (AWH) method was employed for the first time in all-atom membrane models. The AWH-based protocol, named MemCross, appears affordable to estimate PMF profiles of a series of drug-like xenobiotics, compared to other enhanced sampling methods. The continuous exploration of the crossing pathway by MemCross also allows modeling subdiffusion by computing fractional diffusivity profiles. The method is also versatile as its input parameters are largely insensitive to the molecule properties. It also ensures a detailed description of the molecule orientations along the permeation pathway, picturing all intermolecular interactions at an atomic resolution. Here, MemCross was applied on a series of 12 xenobiotics, including four weak acids, and a coherent structure-activity relationship was established.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Patrick Trouillas
- INSERM, UMR 1248, F-87000 Limoges, France; CATRIN RCPTM, 779 00 Olomouc, Holice, Czech Republic
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Shamaprasad P, Frame CO, Moore TC, Yang A, Iacovella CR, Bouwstra JA, Bunge AL, McCabe C. Using molecular simulation to understand the skin barrier. Prog Lipid Res 2022; 88:101184. [PMID: 35988796 PMCID: PMC10116345 DOI: 10.1016/j.plipres.2022.101184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Skin's effectiveness as a barrier to permeation of water and other chemicals rests almost entirely in the outermost layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum (SC), which consists of layers of corneocytes surrounded by highly organized lipid lamellae. As the only continuous path through the SC, transdermal permeation necessarily involves diffusion through these lipid layers. The role of the SC as a protective barrier is supported by its exceptional lipid composition consisting of ceramides (CERs), cholesterol (CHOL), and free fatty acids (FFAs) and the complete absence of phospholipids, which are present in most biological membranes. Molecular simulation, which provides molecular level detail of lipid configurations that can be connected with barrier function, has become a popular tool for studying SC lipid systems. We review this ever-increasing body of literature with the goals of (1) enabling the experimental skin community to understand, interpret and use the information generated from the simulations, (2) providing simulation experts with a solid background in the chemistry of SC lipids including the composition, structure and organization, and barrier function, and (3) presenting a state of the art picture of the field of SC lipid simulations, highlighting the difficulties and best practices for studying these systems, to encourage the generation of robust reproducible studies in the future. This review describes molecular simulation methodology and then critically examines results derived from simulations using atomistic and then coarse-grained models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parashara Shamaprasad
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; Multiscale Modeling and Simulation (MuMS) Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America
| | - Chloe O Frame
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; Multiscale Modeling and Simulation (MuMS) Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America
| | - Timothy C Moore
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; Multiscale Modeling and Simulation (MuMS) Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America
| | - Alexander Yang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; Multiscale Modeling and Simulation (MuMS) Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America
| | - Christopher R Iacovella
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; Multiscale Modeling and Simulation (MuMS) Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America
| | - Joke A Bouwstra
- Division of BioTherapeutics, LACDR, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Annette L Bunge
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, United States of America
| | - Clare McCabe
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; Multiscale Modeling and Simulation (MuMS) Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1604, United States of America; School of Engineering and Physical Science, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
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6
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Zhang S, Thompson JP, Xia J, Bogetti AT, York F, Skillman AG, Chong LT, LeBard DN. Mechanistic Insights into Passive Membrane Permeability of Drug-like Molecules from a Weighted Ensemble of Trajectories. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:1891-1904. [PMID: 35421313 PMCID: PMC9044451 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c01540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
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Passive permeability
of a drug-like molecule is a critical property
assayed early in a drug discovery campaign that informs a medicinal
chemist how well a compound can traverse biological membranes, such
as gastrointestinal epithelial or restrictive organ barriers, so it
can perform a specific therapeutic function. However, the challenge
that remains is the development of a method, experimental or computational,
which can both determine the permeation rate and provide mechanistic
insights into the transport process to help with the rational design
of any given molecule. Typically, one of the following three methods
are used to measure the membrane permeability: (1) experimental permeation
assays acting on either artificial or natural membranes; (2) quantitative
structure–permeability relationship models that rely on experimental
values of permeability or related pharmacokinetic properties of a
range of molecules to infer those for new molecules; and (3) estimation
of permeability from the Smoluchowski equation, where free energy
and diffusion profiles along the membrane normal are taken as input
from large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. While all these methods
provide estimates of permeation coefficients, they provide very little
information for guiding rational drug design. In this study, we employ
a highly parallelizable weighted ensemble (WE) path sampling strategy,
empowered by cloud computing techniques, to generate unbiased permeation
pathways and permeability coefficients for a set of drug-like molecules
across a neat 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine
membrane bilayer. Our WE method predicts permeability coefficients
that compare well to experimental values from an MDCK-LE cell line
and PAMPA assays for a set of drug-like amines of varying size, shape,
and flexibility. Our method also yields a series of continuous permeation
pathways weighted and ranked by their associated probabilities. Taken
together, the ensemble of reactive permeation pathways, along with
the estimate of the permeability coefficient, provides a clearer picture
of the microscopic underpinnings of small-molecule membrane permeation.
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Affiliation(s)
- She Zhang
- OpenEye Scientific, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508, United States
| | - Jeff P Thompson
- OpenEye Scientific, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508, United States
| | - Junchao Xia
- OpenEye Scientific, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508, United States
| | - Anthony T Bogetti
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Forrest York
- OpenEye Scientific, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508, United States
| | | | - Lillian T Chong
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - David N LeBard
- OpenEye Scientific, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508, United States
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7
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Shoji A, Kang C, Fujioka K, Rose JP, Sun R. Assessing the Intestinal Permeability of Small Molecule Drugs via Diffusion Motion on a Multidimensional Free Energy Surface. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 18:503-515. [PMID: 34851637 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A protocol that accurately assesses the intestinal permeability of small molecule compounds plays an essential role in decreasing the cost and time in inventing a new drug. This manuscript presents a novel computational method to study the passive permeation of small molecule drugs based on the inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model. The multidimensional free energy surface of the drug transiting through a lipid bilayer is computed with transition-tempered metadynamics that accurately captures the mechanisms of passive permeation. The permeability is computed by following the diffusion motion of the drug molecules along the minimal free energy path found on the multidimensional free energy surface. This computational method is assessed by studying the permeability of five small molecule drugs (ketoprofen, naproxen, metoprolol, propranolol, and salicylic acid). The results demonstrate a remarkable agreement between the computed permeabilities and those measured with the intestinal assay. The in silico method reported in this manuscript also reproduces the permeability measured from the intestinal assay (in vivo) better than the cell-based assays (e.g., PAMPA and Caco-2) do. In addition, the multidimensional free energy surface reveals the interplay between the structure of the small molecule and its permeability, shedding light on strategies of drug optimization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyson Shoji
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, United States
| | - Christopher Kang
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, United States
| | - Kazuumi Fujioka
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, United States
| | - John P Rose
- DDCS, Lilly Corporate Center, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana 46285, United States
| | - Rui Sun
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, United States
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Róg T, Girych M, Bunker A. Mechanistic Understanding from Molecular Dynamics in Pharmaceutical Research 2: Lipid Membrane in Drug Design. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2021; 14:1062. [PMID: 34681286 PMCID: PMC8537670 DOI: 10.3390/ph14101062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
We review the use of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation as a drug design tool in the context of the role that the lipid membrane can play in drug action, i.e., the interaction between candidate drug molecules and lipid membranes. In the standard "lock and key" paradigm, only the interaction between the drug and a specific active site of a specific protein is considered; the environment in which the drug acts is, from a biophysical perspective, far more complex than this. The possible mechanisms though which a drug can be designed to tinker with physiological processes are significantly broader than merely fitting to a single active site of a single protein. In this paper, we focus on the role of the lipid membrane, arguably the most important element outside the proteins themselves, as a case study. We discuss work that has been carried out, using MD simulation, concerning the transfection of drugs through membranes that act as biological barriers in the path of the drugs, the behavior of drug molecules within membranes, how their collective behavior can affect the structure and properties of the membrane and, finally, the role lipid membranes, to which the vast majority of drug target proteins are associated, can play in mediating the interaction between drug and target protein. This review paper is the second in a two-part series covering MD simulation as a tool in pharmaceutical research; both are designed as pedagogical review papers aimed at both pharmaceutical scientists interested in exploring how the tool of MD simulation can be applied to their research and computational scientists interested in exploring the possibility of a pharmaceutical context for their research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomasz Róg
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland;
| | - Mykhailo Girych
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland;
| | - Alex Bunker
- Drug Research Program, Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland;
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Sugita M, Sugiyama S, Fujie T, Yoshikawa Y, Yanagisawa K, Ohue M, Akiyama Y. Large-Scale Membrane Permeability Prediction of Cyclic Peptides Crossing a Lipid Bilayer Based on Enhanced Sampling Molecular Dynamics Simulations. J Chem Inf Model 2021; 61:3681-3695. [PMID: 34236179 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c00380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Membrane permeability is a significant obstacle facing the development of cyclic peptide drugs. However, membrane permeation mechanisms are poorly understood. To investigate common features of permeable (and nonpermeable) designs, it is necessary to reproduce the membrane permeation process of cyclic peptides through the lipid bilayer. We simulated the membrane permeation process of 100 six-residue cyclic peptides across the lipid bilayer based on steered molecular dynamics (MD) and replica-exchange umbrella sampling simulations and predicted membrane permeability using the inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model and a modified version of it. Furthermore, we confirmed the effectiveness of this protocol by predicting the membrane permeability of 56 eight-residue cyclic peptides with diverse chemical structures, including some confidential designs from a pharmaceutical company. As a result, a reasonable correlation between experimentally assessed and calculated membrane permeability of cyclic peptides was observed for the peptide libraries, except for strongly hydrophobic peptides. Our analysis of the MD trajectory demonstrated that most peptides were stabilized in the boundary region between bulk water and membrane and that for most peptides, the process of crossing the center of the membrane is the main obstacle to membrane permeation. The height of this barrier is well correlated with the electrostatic interaction between the peptide and the surrounding media. The structural and energetic features of the representative peptide at each vertical position within the membrane were also analyzed, revealing that peptides permeate the membrane by changing their orientation and conformation according to the surrounding environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masatake Sugita
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,Middle-Molecule IT-based Drug Discovery Laboratory (MIDL), Tokyo Institute of Technology, RGBT2-A-1C, 3-25-10 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan
| | - Satoshi Sugiyama
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,AIST-TokyoTech Real World Big-Data Computation Open Innovation Laboratory (RWBC-OIL), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8560, Japan
| | - Takuya Fujie
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,Middle-Molecule IT-based Drug Discovery Laboratory (MIDL), Tokyo Institute of Technology, RGBT2-A-1C, 3-25-10 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan
| | - Yasushi Yoshikawa
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,Middle-Molecule IT-based Drug Discovery Laboratory (MIDL), Tokyo Institute of Technology, RGBT2-A-1C, 3-25-10 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan
| | - Keisuke Yanagisawa
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,Middle-Molecule IT-based Drug Discovery Laboratory (MIDL), Tokyo Institute of Technology, RGBT2-A-1C, 3-25-10 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan
| | - Masahito Ohue
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,Middle-Molecule IT-based Drug Discovery Laboratory (MIDL), Tokyo Institute of Technology, RGBT2-A-1C, 3-25-10 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan
| | - Yutaka Akiyama
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, W8-76, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.,Middle-Molecule IT-based Drug Discovery Laboratory (MIDL), Tokyo Institute of Technology, RGBT2-A-1C, 3-25-10 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan
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Rybenkov VV, Zgurskaya HI, Ganguly C, Leus IV, Zhang Z, Moniruzzaman M. The Whole Is Bigger than the Sum of Its Parts: Drug Transport in the Context of Two Membranes with Active Efflux. Chem Rev 2021; 121:5597-5631. [PMID: 33596653 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c01137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Cell envelope plays a dual role in the life of bacteria by simultaneously protecting it from a hostile environment and facilitating access to beneficial molecules. At the heart of this ability lie the restrictive properties of the cellular membrane augmented by efflux transporters, which preclude intracellular penetration of most molecules except with the help of specialized uptake mediators. Recently, kinetic properties of the cell envelope came into focus driven on one hand by the urgent need in new antibiotics and, on the other hand, by experimental and theoretical advances in studies of transmembrane transport. A notable result from these studies is the development of a kinetic formalism that integrates the Michaelis-Menten behavior of individual transporters with transmembrane diffusion and offers a quantitative basis for the analysis of intracellular penetration of bioactive compounds. This review surveys key experimental and computational approaches to the investigation of transport by individual translocators and in whole cells, summarizes key findings from these studies and outlines implications for antibiotic discovery. Special emphasis is placed on Gram-negative bacteria, whose envelope contains two separate membranes. This feature sets these organisms apart from Gram-positive bacteria and eukaryotic cells by providing them with full benefits of the synergy between slow transmembrane diffusion and active efflux.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin V Rybenkov
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Helen I Zgurskaya
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Chhandosee Ganguly
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Inga V Leus
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Zhen Zhang
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Mohammad Moniruzzaman
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
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11
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Jang E. Effect of Alcohol Chain Length on Formation of Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide‐templated Mesoporous Silica Layer on Gold Nanorods. B KOREAN CHEM SOC 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/bkcs.12283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eue‐Soon Jang
- Department of Applied Chemistry Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Daehak‐ro 61, Gumi Gyeongbuk South Korea
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12
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Ghorbani M, Wang E, Krämer A, Klauda JB. Molecular dynamics simulations of ethanol permeation through single and double-lipid bilayers. J Chem Phys 2021; 153:125101. [PMID: 33003717 DOI: 10.1063/5.0013430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Permeation of small molecules through membranes is a fundamental biological process, and molecular dynamics simulations have proven to be a promising tool for studying the permeability of membranes by providing a precise characterization of the free energy and diffusivity. In this study, permeation of ethanol through three different membranes of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylserine (POPS), PO-phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE), and PO-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) is studied. Permeabilities are calculated and compared with two different approaches based on Fick's first law and the inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model. Microsecond simulation of double bilayers of these membranes provided a direct measurement of permeability by a flux-based counting method. These simulations show that a membrane of POPC has the highest permeability, followed by POPE and POPS. Due to the membrane-modulating properties of ethanol, the permeability increases as functions of concentration and saturation of the inner leaflet in a double bilayer setting, as opposed to the customary definition as a proportionality constant. This concentration dependence is confirmed by single bilayer simulations at different ethanol concentrations ranging from 1% to 18%, where permeability estimates are available from transition-based counting and the inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model. We show that the free energy and diffusion profiles for ethanol lack accuracy at higher permeant concentrations due to non-Markovian kinetics caused by collective behavior. In contrast, the counting method provides unbiased estimates. Finally, the permeabilities obtained from single bilayer simulations are combined to represent natural gradients felt by a cellular membrane, which accurately models the non-equilibrium effects on ethanol permeability from single bilayer simulations in equilibrium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahdi Ghorbani
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
| | - Eric Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
| | - Andreas Krämer
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20824, USA
| | - Jeffery B Klauda
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
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13
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Lind C, Pandey P, Pastor RW, MacKerell AD. Functional Group Distributions, Partition Coefficients, and Resistance Factors in Lipid Bilayers Using Site Identification by Ligand Competitive Saturation. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:3188-3202. [PMID: 33929848 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Small molecules such as metabolites and drugs must pass through the membrane of the cell, a barrier primarily comprising phospholipid bilayers and embedded proteins. To better understand the process of passive diffusion, knowledge of the ability of various functional groups to partition across bilayers and the associated energetics would be of utility. In the present study, the site identification by ligand competitive saturation (SILCS) methodology has been applied to sample the distributions of a diverse set of chemical solutes representing the functional groups of small molecules across phospholipid bilayers composed of 0.9:0.1 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/cholesterol and a mixture of 0.52:0.18:0.3 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine/1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/cholesterol used in parallel artificial membrane permeability assay experiments. A combination of oscillating chemical potential grand canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics in the SILCS simulations was applied to achieve solute sampling through the bilayers and surrounding aqueous environment from which the distribution of solutes and the functional groups they represent were obtained. Results show differential distribution of aliphatic versus aromatic groups with the former having increased sampling in the center of the bilayers versus in the region of the glycerol linker for the latter. Variations in the distribution of different polar groups are evident, with large differences between negative acetate and positive methylammonium with accumulation of the polar-neutral and acetate solutes above the bilayer head groups. Conversion of the distributions to absolute free energies allows for a detailed understanding of energetics of functional groups in different regions of the bilayers and for calculation of absolute free-energy profiles of multifunctional drug-like molecules across the bilayers from which partition coefficients and resistance factors suitable for insertion into the homogenous solubility-diffusion equation for calculation of permeability were obtained. Comparisons of the calculated bilayer/solution partition coefficients with 1-octanol/water experimental data for both drug-like molecules and the solutes show overall good agreement, validating the calculated distributions and associated absolute free-energy profiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoffer Lind
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
| | - Poonam Pandey
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
| | - Richard W Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Alexander D MacKerell
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
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14
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Kaoutari AE, Fraunhoffer NA, Hoare O, Teyssedou C, Soubeyran P, Gayet O, Roques J, Lomberk G, Urrutia R, Dusetti N, Iovanna J. Metabolomic profiling of pancreatic adenocarcinoma reveals key features driving clinical outcome and drug resistance. EBioMedicine 2021; 66:103332. [PMID: 33862584 PMCID: PMC8054161 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although significant advances have been made recently to characterize the biology of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), more efforts are needed to improve our understanding and to face challenges related to the aggressiveness, high mortality rate and chemoresistance of this disease. METHODS In this study, we perform the metabolomics profiling of 77 PDAC patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDTX) to investigate the relationship of metabolic profiles with overall survival (OS) in PDAC patients, tumor phenotypes and resistance to five anticancer drugs (gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, docetaxel, SN-38 and 5-Fluorouracil). FINDINGS We identified a metabolic signature that was able to predict the clinical outcome of PDAC patients (p < 0.001, HR=2.68 [95% CI: 1.5-4.9]). The correlation analysis showed that this metabolomic signature was significantly correlated with the PDAC molecular gradient (PAMG) (R = 0.44 and p < 0.001) indicating significant association to the transcriptomic phenotypes of tumors. Resistance score established, based on growth rate inhibition metrics using 35 PDTX-derived primary cells, allowed to identify several metabolites related to drug resistance which was globally accompanied by accumulation of several diacy-phospholipids and decrease in lysophospholipids. Interestingly, targeting glycerophospholipid synthesis improved sensitivity to the three tested cytotoxic drugs indicating that interfering with metabolism could be a promising therapeutic strategy to overcome the challenging resistance of PDAC. INTERPRETATION In conclusion, this study shows that the metabolomic profile of pancreatic PDTX models is strongly associated to clinical outcome, transcriptomic phenotypes and drug resistance. We also showed that targeting the lipidomic profile could be used in combinatory therapies against chemoresistance in PDAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdessamad El Kaoutari
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France; COMPO unit, Inria Sophia Antipolis and CRCM, INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR7258, Aix-Marseille Université UM105, Marseille, France
| | - Nicolas A Fraunhoffer
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Owen Hoare
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Carlos Teyssedou
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Philippe Soubeyran
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Odile Gayet
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Julie Roques
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Gwen Lomberk
- Genomics and Precision Medicine Center (GSPMC), Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Division of Research, Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Raul Urrutia
- Genomics and Precision Medicine Center (GSPMC), Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Division of Research, Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Nelson Dusetti
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France.
| | - Juan Iovanna
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM), INSERM U1068, CNRS UMR 7258, Aix-Marseille Université and Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Parc Scientifique et Technologique de Luminy, Marseille, France.
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15
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Chan C, Du S, Dong Y, Cheng X. Computational and Experimental Approaches to Investigate Lipid Nanoparticles as Drug and Gene Delivery Systems. Curr Top Med Chem 2021; 21:92-114. [PMID: 33243123 PMCID: PMC8191596 DOI: 10.2174/1568026620666201126162945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have been widely applied in drug and gene delivery. More than twenty years ago, DoxilTM was the first LNPs-based drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since then, with decades of research and development, more and more LNP-based therapeutics have been used to treat diverse diseases, which often offer the benefits of reduced toxicity and/or enhanced efficacy compared to the active ingredients alone. Here, we provide a review of recent advances in the development of efficient and robust LNPs for drug/gene delivery. We emphasize the importance of rationally combining experimental and computational approaches, especially those providing multiscale structural and functional information of LNPs, to the design of novel and powerful LNP-based delivery systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Chan
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Shi Du
- Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Yizhou Dong
- Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering; The Center for Clinical and Translational Science; The Comprehensive Cancer Center; Dorothy M. Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute; Department of Radiation Oncology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Xiaolin Cheng
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Biophysics Graduate Program, Translational Data Analytics Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
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16
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Nagai T, Tsurumaki S, Urano R, Fujimoto K, Shinoda W, Okazaki S. Position-Dependent Diffusion Constant of Molecules in Heterogeneous Systems as Evaluated by the Local Mean Squared Displacement. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:7239-7254. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Tetsuro Nagai
- Department of Advanced Materials Science, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan
- Department of Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan
| | - Shuhei Tsurumaki
- Department of Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan
| | - Ryo Urano
- Department of Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan
| | - Kazushi Fujimoto
- Department of Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan
| | - Wataru Shinoda
- Department of Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan
| | - Susumu Okazaki
- Department of Advanced Materials Science, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan
- Department of Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan
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17
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Thermodynamics and Mechanism of the Membrane Permeation of Hv1 Channel Blockers. J Membr Biol 2020; 254:5-16. [PMID: 33196887 DOI: 10.1007/s00232-020-00149-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The voltage-gated proton channel Hv1 mediates efflux of protons from the cell. Hv1 integrally contributes to various physiological processes including pH homeostasis and the respiratory burst of phagocytes. Inhibition of Hv1 may provide therapeutic avenues for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, breast cancer, and ischemic brain damage. In this work, we investigate two prototypical Hv1 inhibitors, 2-guanidinobenzimidazole (2GBI), and 5-chloro-2-guanidinobenzimidazole (GBIC), from an experimentally screened class of guanidine derivatives. Both compounds block proton conduction by binding the same site located on the intracellular side of the channel. However, when added to the extracellular medium, the compounds strongly differ in their ability to inhibit proton conduction, suggesting substantial differences in membrane permeability. Here, we compute the potential of mean force for each compound to permeate through the membrane using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations with the adaptive biasing force method. Our results rationalize the putative distinction between these two blockers with respect to their abilities to permeate the cellular membrane.
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18
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Krämer A, Ghysels A, Wang E, Venable RM, Klauda JB, Brooks BR, Pastor RW. Membrane permeability of small molecules from unbiased molecular dynamics simulations. J Chem Phys 2020; 153:124107. [PMID: 33003739 PMCID: PMC7519415 DOI: 10.1063/5.0013429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Permeation of many small molecules through lipid bilayers can be directly observed in molecular dynamics simulations on the nano- and microsecond timescale. While unbiased simulations provide an unobstructed view of the permeation process, their feasibility for computing permeability coefficients depends on various factors that differ for each permeant. The present work studies three small molecules for which unbiased simulations of permeation are feasible within less than a microsecond, one hydrophobic (oxygen), one hydrophilic (water), and one amphiphilic (ethanol). Permeabilities are computed using two approaches: counting methods and a maximum-likelihood estimation for the inhomogeneous solubility diffusion (ISD) model. Counting methods yield nearly model-free estimates of the permeability for all three permeants. While the ISD-based approach is reasonable for oxygen, it lacks precision for water due to insufficient sampling and results in misleading estimates for ethanol due to invalid model assumptions. It is also demonstrated that simulations using a Langevin thermostat with collision frequencies of 1/ps and 5/ps yield oxygen permeabilities and diffusion constants that are lower than those using Nosé-Hoover by statistically significant margins. In contrast, permeabilities from trajectories generated with Nosé-Hoover and the microcanonical ensemble do not show statistically significant differences. As molecular simulations become more affordable and accurate, calculation of permeability for an expanding range of molecules will be feasible using unbiased simulations. The present work summarizes theoretical underpinnings, identifies pitfalls, and develops best practices for such simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Krämer
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - An Ghysels
- IBiTech - BioMMeda, Ghent University, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, Block B - Entrance 36, 9000 Gent, Belgium
| | - Eric Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740, USA
| | - Richard M. Venable
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Jeffery B. Klauda
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740, USA
| | - Bernard R. Brooks
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Richard W. Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
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19
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Tang PK, Chakraborty K, Hu W, Kang M, Loverde SM. Interaction of Camptothecin with Model Cellular Membranes. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:3373-3384. [PMID: 32126167 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b00541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Accurate and efficient prediction of drug partitioning in model membranes is of significant interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Herein, we utilize advanced sampling methods, specifically, the adaptive biasing force methodology to calculate the potential of mean force for a model hydrophobic anticancer drug, camptothecin (CPT), across three model interfaces. We consider an octanol bilayer, a thick octanol/water interface, and a model 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC)/water interface. We characterize the enthalpic and entropic contributions of the drug to the potential of mean force. We show that the rotational entropy of the drug is inversely related to the probability of hydrogen bond formation of the drug with the POPC membrane. In addition, in long-time microsecond simulations of a high concentration of CPT above the POPC membrane, we show that strong drug-drug aromatic interactions shift the spatial orientation of the drug with the membrane. Stacks of hydrophobic drugs form, allowing penetration of the drug just under the POPC head groups. These results imply that inhomogeneous membrane models need to take into account the effect of drug aggregation on the membrane environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phu K Tang
- Department of Chemistry, College of Staten Island, City University of New York, 2800 Victory Boulevard, 6S-238, Staten Island, New York 10314, United States.,Ph.D. Program in Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10016, United States
| | - Kaushik Chakraborty
- Department of Chemistry, College of Staten Island, City University of New York, 2800 Victory Boulevard, 6S-238, Staten Island, New York 10314, United States
| | - William Hu
- Hunter College High School, New York, New York, 10128, United States
| | - Myungshim Kang
- Department of Chemistry, College of Staten Island, City University of New York, 2800 Victory Boulevard, 6S-238, Staten Island, New York 10314, United States
| | - Sharon M Loverde
- Department of Chemistry, College of Staten Island, City University of New York, 2800 Victory Boulevard, 6S-238, Staten Island, New York 10314, United States.,Department of Physics, Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10016, United States.,Ph.D. Program in Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10016, United States
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20
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Kopecka J, Trouillas P, Gašparović AČ, Gazzano E, Assaraf YG, Riganti C. Phospholipids and cholesterol: Inducers of cancer multidrug resistance and therapeutic targets. Drug Resist Updat 2020; 49:100670. [DOI: 10.1016/j.drup.2019.100670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 11/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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21
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Tolios A, De Las Rivas J, Hovig E, Trouillas P, Scorilas A, Mohr T. Computational approaches in cancer multidrug resistance research: Identification of potential biomarkers, drug targets and drug-target interactions. Drug Resist Updat 2019; 48:100662. [PMID: 31927437 DOI: 10.1016/j.drup.2019.100662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2019] [Revised: 10/15/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Like physics in the 19th century, biology and molecular biology in particular, has been fertilized and enhanced like few other scientific fields, by the incorporation of mathematical methods. In the last decades, a whole new scientific field, bioinformatics, has developed with an output of over 30,000 papers a year (Pubmed search using the keyword "bioinformatics"). Huge databases of mass throughput data have been established, with ArrayExpress alone containing more than 2.7 million assays (October 2019). Computational methods have become indispensable tools in molecular biology, particularly in one of the most challenging areas of cancer research, multidrug resistance (MDR). However, confronted with a plethora of different algorithms, approaches, and methods, the average researcher faces key questions: Which methods do exist? Which methods can be used to tackle the aims of a given study? Or, more generally, how do I use computational biology/bioinformatics to bolster my research? The current review is aimed at providing guidance to existing methods with relevance to MDR research. In particular, we provide an overview on: a) the identification of potential biomarkers using expression data; b) the prediction of treatment response by machine learning methods; c) the employment of network approaches to identify gene/protein regulatory networks and potential key players; d) the identification of drug-target interactions; e) the use of bipartite networks to identify multidrug targets; f) the identification of cellular subpopulations with the MDR phenotype; and, finally, g) the use of molecular modeling methods to guide and enhance drug discovery. This review shall serve as a guide through some of the basic concepts useful in MDR research. It shall give the reader some ideas about the possibilities in MDR research by using computational tools, and, finally, it shall provide a short overview of relevant literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Tolios
- Department of Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany.
| | - J De Las Rivas
- Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics Group, Cancer Research Center (CiC-IMBCC, CSIC/USAL/IBSAL), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and University of Salamanca (USAL), Campus Miguel de Unamuno s/n, Salamanca, Spain.
| | - E Hovig
- Department of Tumor Biology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital and Center for Bioinformatics, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
| | - P Trouillas
- UMR 1248 INSERM, Univ. Limoges, 2 rue du Dr Marland, 87052, Limoges, France; RCPTM, University Palacký of Olomouc, tr. 17. listopadu 12, 771 46, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - A Scorilas
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
| | - T Mohr
- Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; ScienceConsult - DI Thomas Mohr KG, Guntramsdorf, Austria.
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22
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Zhang H, Shao X, Dehez F, Cai W, Chipot C. Modulation of membrane permeability by carbon dioxide. J Comput Chem 2019; 41:421-426. [PMID: 31479166 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.26063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Promoting drug delivery across the biological membrane is a common strategy to improve bioavailability. Inspired by the observation that carbonated alcoholic beverages can increase the absorption rate of ethanol, we speculate that carbon dioxide (CO2 ) molecules could also enhance membrane permeability to drugs. In the present work, we have investigated the effect of CO2 on the permeability of a model membrane formed by 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine lipids to three drug-like molecules, namely, ethanol, 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine, and trimethoprim. The free-energy and fractional-diffusivity profiles underlying membrane translocation were obtained from μs-timescale simulations and combined in the framework of the fractional solubility-diffusion model. We find that addition of CO2 in the lipid environment results in an increase of the membrane permeability to the three substrates. Further analysis of the permeation events reveals that CO2 expands and loosens the membrane, which, in turn, facilitates permeation of the drug-like molecules. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong Zhang
- Research Center for Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin, 300071, People's Republic of China
| | - Xueguang Shao
- Research Center for Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin, 300071, People's Republic of China
| | - François Dehez
- Laboratoire International Associé CNRS and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54506, France.,LPCT, UMR 7019 Université de Lorraine CNRS, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54500, France
| | - Wensheng Cai
- Research Center for Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin, 300071, People's Republic of China
| | - Christophe Chipot
- Laboratoire International Associé CNRS and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54506, France.,LPCT, UMR 7019 Université de Lorraine CNRS, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54500, France.,Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801
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23
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Rózsa ZB, Németh LJ, Jójárt B, Nehéz K, Viskolcz B, Szőri M. Molecular Dynamics and Metadynamics Insights of 1,4-Dioxane-Induced Structural Changes of Biomembrane Models. J Phys Chem B 2019; 123:7869-7884. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b04313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Zsófia Borbála Rózsa
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Miskolc, Egyetemváros A/2, H-3515 Miskolc, Hungary
| | - Lukács József Németh
- Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged, Mars tér 7, 6724 Szeged, Hungary
| | - Balázs Jójárt
- Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged, Mars tér 7, 6724 Szeged, Hungary
| | - Károly Nehéz
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Miskolc, Miskolc-Egyetemváros Informatics Building, H-3515 Miskolc, Hungary
| | - Béla Viskolcz
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Miskolc, Egyetemváros A/2, H-3515 Miskolc, Hungary
| | - Milán Szőri
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Miskolc, Egyetemváros A/2, H-3515 Miskolc, Hungary
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24
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Lomize AL, Pogozheva ID. Physics-Based Method for Modeling Passive Membrane Permeability and Translocation Pathways of Bioactive Molecules. J Chem Inf Model 2019; 59:3198-3213. [PMID: 31259555 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Assessment of permeability is a critical step in the drug development process for selection of drug candidates with favorable ADME properties. We have developed a novel physics-based method for fast computational modeling of passive permeation of diverse classes of molecules across lipid membranes. The method is based on heterogeneous solubility-diffusion theory and operates with all-atom 3D structures of solutes and the anisotropic solvent model of the lipid bilayer characterized by transbilayer profiles of dielectric and hydrogen bonding capacity parameters. The optimal translocation pathway of a solute is determined by moving an ensemble of representative conformations of the molecule through the dioleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DOPC) bilayer and optimizing their rotational orientations in every point of the transmembrane trajectory. The method calculates (1) the membrane-bound state of the solute molecule; (2) free energy profile of the solute along the permeation pathway; and (3) the permeability coefficient obtained by integration over the transbilayer energy profile and assuming a constant size-dependent diffusivity along the membrane normal. The accuracy of the predictions was evaluated against experimental permeability coefficients measured in pure lipid membranes (for 78 compounds, R2 was 0.88 and rmse was 1.15 log units), PAMPA-DS (for 280 compounds, R2 was 0.75 and rmse was 1.59 log units), BBB (for 182 compounds, R2 was 0.69 and rmse was 0.87 log units), and Caco-2/MDCK assays (for 165 compounds, R2 was 0.52 and rmse was 0.89 log units).
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrei L Lomize
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy , University of Michigan , 428 Church Street , Ann Arbor , Michigan 48109-1065 , United States
| | - Irina D Pogozheva
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy , University of Michigan , 428 Church Street , Ann Arbor , Michigan 48109-1065 , United States
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25
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Guo J, Ho JCS, Chin H, Mark AE, Zhou C, Kjelleberg S, Liedberg B, Parikh AN, Cho NJ, Hinks J, Mu Y, Seviour T. Response of microbial membranes to butanol: interdigitation vs. disorder. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2019; 21:11903-11915. [PMID: 31125035 DOI: 10.1039/c9cp01469a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Biobutanol production by fermentation is potentially a sustainable alternative to butanol production from fossil fuels. However, the toxicity of butanol to fermentative bacteria, resulting largely from cell membrane fluidization, limits production titers and is a major factor limiting the uptake of the technology. Here, studies were undertaken, in vitro and in silico, on the butanol effects on a representative bacterial (i.e. Escherichia coli) inner cell membrane. A critical butanol : lipid ratio for stability of 2 : 1 was observed, computationally, consistent with complete interdigitation. However, at this ratio the bilayer was ∼20% thicker than for full interdigitation. Furthermore, butanol intercalation induced acyl chain bending and increased disorder, measured as a 27% lateral diffusivity increase experimentally in a supported lipid bilayer. There was also a monophasic Tm reduction in butanol-treated large unilamellar vesicles. Both behaviours are inconsistent with an interdigitated gel. Butanol thus causes only partial interdigitation at physiological temperatures, due to butanol accumulating at the phospholipid headgroups. Acyl tail disordering (i.e. splaying and bending) fills the subsequent voids. Finally, butanol short-circuits the bilayer and creates a coupled system where interdigitated and splayed phospholipids coexist. These findings will inform the design of strategies targeting bilayer stability for increasing biobutanol production titers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingjing Guo
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, 637551, Singapore.
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26
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Abstract
This Review illustrates the evaluation of permeability of lipid membranes from molecular dynamics (MD) simulation primarily using water and oxygen as examples. Membrane entrance, translocation, and exit of these simple permeants (one hydrophilic and one hydrophobic) can be simulated by conventional MD, and permeabilities can be evaluated directly by Fick's First Law, transition rates, and a global Bayesian analysis of the inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model. The assorted results, many of which are applicable to simulations of nonbiological membranes, highlight the limitations of the homogeneous solubility diffusion model; support the utility of inhomogeneous solubility diffusion and compartmental models; underscore the need for comparison with experiment for both simple solvent systems (such as water/hexadecane) and well-characterized membranes; and demonstrate the need for microsecond simulations for even simple permeants like water and oxygen. Undulations, subdiffusion, fractional viscosity dependence, periodic boundary conditions, and recent developments in the field are also discussed. Last, while enhanced sampling methods and increasingly sophisticated treatments of diffusion add substantially to the repertoire of simulation-based approaches, they do not address directly the critical need for force fields with polarizability and multipoles, and constant pH methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard M Venable
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Lung, Heart, and Blood Institute , National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , Maryland 20892 , United States
| | - Andreas Krämer
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Lung, Heart, and Blood Institute , National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , Maryland 20892 , United States
| | - Richard W Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Lung, Heart, and Blood Institute , National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , Maryland 20892 , United States
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27
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Tse CH, Comer J, Sang Chu SK, Wang Y, Chipot C. Affordable Membrane Permeability Calculations: Permeation of Short-Chain Alcohols through Pure-Lipid Bilayers and a Mammalian Cell Membrane. J Chem Theory Comput 2019; 15:2913-2924. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b00022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chi Hang Tse
- Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Jeffrey Comer
- Institute of Computational Comparative Medicine and Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Simon Kit Sang Chu
- Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Yi Wang
- Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Christophe Chipot
- Laboratoire International Associé Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Unité Mixte de Recherche n°7019, Université de Lorraine, B.P. 70239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy cedex, France
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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28
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Sun R, Han Y, Swanson JMJ, Tan JS, Rose JP, Voth GA. Molecular transport through membranes: Accurate permeability coefficients from multidimensional potentials of mean force and local diffusion constants. J Chem Phys 2018; 149:072310. [PMID: 30134730 DOI: 10.1063/1.5027004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Estimating the permeability coefficient of small molecules through lipid bilayer membranes plays an important role in the development of effective drug candidates. In silico simulations can produce acceptable relative permeability coefficients for a series of small molecules; however, the absolute permeability coefficients from simulations are usually off by orders of magnitude. In addition to differences between the lipid bilayers used in vitro and in silico, the poor convergence of permeation free energy profiles and over-simplified diffusion models have contributed to these discrepancies. In this paper, we present a multidimensional inhomogeneous solubility-diffusion model to study the permeability of a small molecule drug (trimethoprim) passing through a POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) lipid bilayer. Our approach improves the permeation model in three ways: First, the free energy profile (potential of mean force, PMF) is two-dimensional in two key coordinates rather than simply one-dimensional along the direction normal to the bilayer. Second, the 2-D PMF calculation has improved convergence due to application of the recently developed transition-tempered metadynamics with randomly initialized replicas, while third, the local diffusivity coefficient was calculated along the direction of the minimum free energy path on the two-dimensional PMF. The permeability is then calculated as a line integral along the minimum free energy path of the PMF. With this approach, we report a considerably more accurate permeability coefficient (only 2-5 times larger than the experimental value). We also compare our approach with the common practice of computing permeability coefficients based only on the translation of the center of mass of the drug molecule. Our paper concludes with a discussion of approaches for minimizing the computational cost for the purpose of more rapidly screening a large number of drug candidate molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Sun
- Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - Yining Han
- Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - Jessica M J Swanson
- Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - Jeffrey S Tan
- Small Molecule Design and Development, Lilly Corporate Center, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana 46285, USA
| | - John P Rose
- Small Molecule Design and Development, Lilly Corporate Center, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana 46285, USA
| | - Gregory A Voth
- Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
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29
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Tse CH, Comer J, Wang Y, Chipot C. Link between Membrane Composition and Permeability to Drugs. J Chem Theory Comput 2018; 14:2895-2909. [PMID: 29771515 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.8b00272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Prediction of membrane permeability to small molecules represents an important aspect of drug discovery. First-principles calculations of this quantity require an accurate description of both the thermodynamics and kinetics that underlie translocation of the permeant across the lipid bilayer. In this contribution, the membrane permeability to three drugs, or drug-like molecules, namely, 9-anthroic acid (ANA), 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine (DDA), and hydrocortisone (HYL), are estimated in a pure 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) and in a POPC:cholesterol (2:1) mixture. On the basis of independent 2-5-μs free-energy calculations combined with a time-fractional Smoluchowski determination of the diffusivity, the estimated membrane permeabilities to these chemically diverse permeants fall within an order of magnitude from the experimental values obtained in egg-lecithin bilayers, with the exception of HYL in pure POPC. This exception is particularly interesting because the calculated permeability of the sterol-rich bilayer to HYL, in close agreement with the experimental value, is about 600 times lower than that of the pure POPC bilayer to HYL. In contrast, the permeabilities to ANA and DDA differ by less than a factor of 10 between the pure POPC and POPC:cholesterol bilayers. The unusual behavior of HYL, a large, amphiphilic compound, may be linked with the longer range perturbation of the lipid bilayer it induces, compared to ANA and DDA, suggestive of a possibly different translocation mechanism. We find that the tendency of lower permeabilities of the POPC:cholesterol bilayer relative to those of the pure POPC one is a consequence of increased free-energy barriers. Beyond reporting accurate estimates of the membrane permeability, the present contribution also demonstrates that rigorous free-energy calculations and a fractional-diffusion model are key in revealing the molecular phenomena linking the composition of a membrane to its permeability to drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chi Hang Tse
- Shenzhen Research Institute , The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Shatin , Hong Kong SAR , China.,Department of Physics , The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Shatin , Hong Kong SAR , China
| | - Jeffrey Comer
- Institute of Computational Comparative Medicine and Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State, Department of Anatomy and Physiology , Kansas State University , Manhattan , Kansas 66506 , United States
| | - Yi Wang
- Shenzhen Research Institute , The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Shatin , Hong Kong SAR , China.,Department of Physics , The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Shatin , Hong Kong SAR , China
| | - Christophe Chipot
- Laboratoire International Associé Centre, National de la Recherche Scientifique et University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Unité Mixte de Recherche No. 7019 , Université de Lorraine , B.P. 70239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy cedex , France.,Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 405 North Mathews Avenue , Urbana , Illinois 61801 , United States.,Department of Physics , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 1110 West Green Street , Urbana , Illinois 61801 , United States
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