Glucosyltriazole amphiphile treatment attenuates breast cancer by modulating the AMPK signaling

Breast cancer is the second most frequent cancer among women. Out of various subtypes, triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) account for 15% of breast cancers and exhibit more aggressive characteristics as well as a worse prognosis due to their proclivity for metastatic progression and limited therapeutic strategies. It has been demonstrated that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has context-specific protumorigenic implications in breast cancer cells. A set of glucosyltriazole amphiphiles, consisting of acetylated (9a-h) and unmodified sugar hydroxyl groups (10a-h), were synthesized and subjected to in vitro biological evaluation. Among them, 9h exhibited significant anticancer activity against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and 4T1 cell lines with IC50 values of 12.5, 15, and 12.55 μM, respectively. Further, compound 9h was evaluated for apoptosis and cell cycle analysis in in vitro models (using breast cancer cells) and antitumour activity in an in vivo model (orthotopic mouse model using 4T1 cells). Annexin-V assay results revealed that treatment with 9h caused 34% and 28% cell death at a concentration of 15 or 7.5 μM, respectively, while cell cycle analysis demonstrated that 9h arrested the cells at the G2/M or G1 phase in MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 cells, respectively. Further, in vivo, investigation showed that compound 9h exhibited equipotent as doxorubicin at 7.5 mg/kg, and superior efficacy than doxorubicin at 15 mg/kg. The mechanistic approach revealed that 9h showed potent anticancer activity in an in vivo orthotopic model (4T1 cells) partly by suppressing the AMPK activation. Therefore, modulating the AMPK activation could be a probable approach for targeting breast cancer and mitigating cancer progression.

Composition and Conformation of Hetero- versus Homo-Fluorinated Triazolamers Influence their Activity on Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Aggregation

Novel fluorinated foldamers based on aminomethyl-1,4-triazolyl-difluoroacetic acid (1,4-Tz-CF2) units were synthesized and their conformational behaviour was studied by NMR and molecular dynamics. Their activity on the aggregation of the human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) amyloid protein was evaluated by fluorescence spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The fluorine labelling of these foldamers allowed the analysis of their interaction with the target protein. We demonstrated that the preferred extended conformation of homotriazolamers of 1,4-Tz-CF2 unit increases the aggregation of hIAPP, while the hairpin-like conformation of more flexible heterotriazolamers containing two 1,4-Tz-CF2 units mixed with natural amino acids from the hIAPP sequence reduces it, and more efficiently than the parent natural peptide. The longer heterotriazolamers having three 1,4-Tz-CF2 units adopting more folded hairpin-like and ladder-like structures similar to short multi-stranded β-sheets have no effect. This work demonstrates that a good balance between the structuring and flexibility of these foldamers is necessary to allow efficient interaction with the target protein.

Fluorinated Triazole Foldamers: Folded or Extended Conformational Preferences

The Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (MESR) is thanked for financial support for José Laxio Arenas. The China Scholarship Council is thanked for financial support for Yaochun Xu. The authors thank Pr. Vadim Soloshonok and TOSOH F-TECH, Inc. for the kind gift of N-terbutyl-sulfinylimine.

N-Arylated peptide: troponyl residue influences the structure and conformation of N-troponylated-(di/tri)-peptides

N-arylated peptides as peptoids influence the structural and conformational changes of small peptides that lead to unique foldamers, even in di-/tri-peptides.

β-Turn mimetic synthetic peptides as amyloid-β aggregation inhibitors

Aggregation of amyloid peptides results in severe neurodegenerative diseases. While the fibril structures of Aβ₄₀ and Aβ₄₂ have been described recently, resolution of the aggregation pathway and evaluation of potent inhibitors still remains elusive, in particular in view of the hairpin-region of Aβ₄₀. We here report the preparation of beta-turn mimetic conjugates containing synthetic turn mimetic structures in the turn region of Aβ₄₀ and Aβ_16-35, replacing 2 amino acids in the turn-region G25 - K28. The structure of the turn mimic induces both, acceleration of fibrillation and the complete inhibition of fibrillation, confirming the importance of the turn region on the aggregation. Replacing position G25-S26 provided the best inhibition effect for both beta-turn mimetics, the bicyclic BTD 1 and the aromatic TAA 2, while positions N27-K28 and V24-G25 showed only weaker or no inhibitory effects. When comparing different turn mimetics at the same position (G25-S26), conjugate 1a bearing the BTD turn showed the best inhibition of Aβ₄₀ aggregation, while 5-amino-valeric acid 4a showed the weakest effect. Thus there is a pronounced impact on fibrillation with the chemical nature of the embedded beta-turn-mimic: the conformationally constrained turns 1 and 2 lead to a significantly reduced fibrillation, even inhibiting fibrillation of native Aβ₄₀ when added in amounts down to 1/10, whereas the more flexible beta-turn-mimics 4-amino-benzoic acid 3a and 5-amino-valeric acid 4a lead to enhanced fibrillation. Toxicity-testing of the most successful conjugate showed only minor toxicity in cell-viability assays using the N2a cell line. Structural downsizing lead to the short fragment BTD/peptide Aβ_16-35 as inhibitor of the aggregation of Aβ₄₀, opening large potential for further small peptide based inhibitors.

Grafting Behavior for the Resonating Variants of Ethynylaniline on Hydrogenated Silicon (100) Surfaces under Thermal Hydrosilylation

This work reports the outcome of thermal grafting of 2-ethynylaniline, 3-ethynylaniline, and 4-ethynylaniline on a hydrogenated Si(100) surface. Using high-resolution XPS and AFM, it was found that the grafting of these compounds could be attributed to resonating structures that arise from the position of an electron-donating NH₂ group and an electron-withdrawing acetylene group. For the ortho- and para-positioned acetylene group, surface reactions were observed to proceed predominantly via the acetylene to form a Si-C bond, whereas the meta-positioned acetylene group was found to have undergone nucleophilic grafting through the NH₂ group onto the silicon surface to form a Si-N bond. Furthermore, a tert-butoxycarbonyl-protected derivative for a meta-positioned ethynylaniline was synthesized to exclusively force the reaction to react with the acetylene group and subsequent analysis confirmed that unprotected 3-ethynylaniline had indeed reacted through the nucleophilic NH₂ group as hypothesized. Thus, for the first time, the interplay between resonance structures and their effects on silicon surface modifications were systematically catalogued.

Multipurpose isothiocyanyl alanine/lysine: Use as solvatochromic IR probes and in site specific labeling/ligation of short peptides

The solvatochromic IR responsivity of small side chain -NCS in two unexplored unnatural amino acids, isothiocyanyl alanine (^NCSAla = Ita) and lysine (^NCSLys = Itl), without perturbing the conformation is demonstrated in two designed short tripeptide (BocAla-^NCSAla-Ala-OMe) and hexapeptide (BocLeu-Val-Phe-Phe-^NCSLys-Gly-OMe). Demonstration of site specific fluorescent labeling in both the peptides and ligation type reaction in ^NCSLys indicates the novelty of these two amino acids as alternative to the available canonical amino acids.

A relay FRET event in a designed trichromophoric pentapeptide containing an o-,m-aromatic-amino acid scaffold

The concept of a relay FRET event is established in a designed trichromophoric pentapeptide containing an o-,m-aromatic amino acid scaffold in the backbone as a novel β-turn mimetic β-sheet folding nucleator.

Uracil-amino acid as a scaffold for β-sheet peptidomimetics: Study of photophysics and interaction with BSA protein

We report herein the uracil-di-aza-amino acid (U^rAA) as a new family of molecular scaffold to induce β-hairpin structure with H-bonded β-sheet conformation in a short peptide. This has been demonstrated in two conceptual fluorescent pentapeptides wherein triazolylpyrenyl alanine and/or triazolylmethoxynapthyl alanine (^TPyAla_Do and/or ^TMNapAla_Do) are embedded into two arms of the uracil-amino acid via an intervening leucine. Conformational analysis by CD, IR, variable temperature and 2D NMR spectroscopy reveals the β-hairpin structures for both the peptides. Study of photophysical property reveals that the pentapeptide containing fluorescent triazolyl unnatural amino acids ^TMNapAla_Do and ^TPyAla_Do at the two termini exhibits dual path entry to exciplex emission-either via FRET from ^TMNapAla_Do to ^TPyAla_Do or via direct excitation of a FRET acceptor, ^TPyAla_Do. The other pentapeptide with ^TPyAla_Do/^TPyAla_Do pair shows excimer emission. Furthermore, both the peptides maintaining their fundamental photophysics are found to interact with BSA as only a test biomolecule.

Internal Peptide Late-Stage Diversification: Peptide-Isosteric Triazoles for Primary and Secondary C(sp3 )-H Activation

Secondary C(sp³ )-H arylations were accomplished by palladium catalysis with triazoles as peptide bond isosteres. The unique power of this approach is highlighted by the possibility of achieving secondary C(sp³ )-H functionalizations on terminal peptides as well as the unprecedented positional-selective C(sp³ )-H functionalization of internal peptide positions, setting the stage for modular peptide late-stage diversification.

Isothiocyanyl Alanine as a Synthetic Intermediate for the Synthesis of Thioureayl Alanines and Subsequent Aminotetrazolyl Alanines

The synthesis of unnatural amino acids with small side-chain functionalities usable for further transformations is highly demanding for the expansion of the genetic code and other possible biotechnological applications. To this end, we wanted to report the utility of an unexplored unnatural amino acid, isothiocyanyl alanine (^NCSAla = Ita), for the synthesis of another class of unnatural amino acids, thioureayl alanines (^TUAla = Tua). The synthesis of a third class of unnatural amino acids, amino tetrazolyl alanines (^ATzAla = Ata), in a very good yield was subsequently achieved utilizing thioureayl alanines. Thus, a variety of aliphatic- and aromatic-substituted thioureayl alanines and aromatic-substituted amino tetrazolyl alanines were successfully synthesized in good to excellent yields. The photophysical properties of three of the fluorescent unnatural amino acids from two classes were also studied and presented herein.

Axially chiral amino acid scaffolds as efficient fluorescent discriminators of methanol–ethanol

Differential solvation guided H-bonding interaction allows novel axially chiral amino acid scaffolds for efficient discrimination of ethanol–methanolviaa switch-on fluorescence response.

N-Difluoromethyl-triazole as a constrained scaffold in peptidomimetics

The N-difluoromethyl triazolo-β-aza-ε-amino acid present in the core of peptides led to constrained conformations due to CH–F and NH–F interactions.

Systematic Targeting of Protein-Protein Interactions

Over the past decade, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) have gone from being neglected as 'undruggable' to being considered attractive targets for the development of therapeutics. Recent advances in computational analysis, fragment-based screening, and molecular design have revealed promising strategies to address the basic molecular recognition challenge: how to target large protein surfaces with specificity. Several systematic and complementary workflows have been developed to yield successful inhibitors of PPIs. Here we review the major contemporary approaches utilized for the discovery of inhibitors and focus on a structure-based workflow, from the selection of a biological target to design.

Trichromophoric pentapeptide: impact of β-sheet conformation on dual path to excimer emission and sensing of BSA

We established dual mechanisms for excimer emission-either via FRET or direct excitation of a FRET acceptor- in a conceptually novel trichromophoric pentapeptide which serves as an effective fluorescence light-up probe for protein–peptide interaction.