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Singh V, Mambwe D, Korkor CM, Chibale K. Innovation Experiences from Africa-Led Drug Discovery at the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre. ACS Med Chem Lett 2022; 13:1221-1230. [PMID: 35978699 PMCID: PMC9377003 DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.2c00142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
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As the so-called “next frontier” in global
economic
terms, Africa’s disease burden continues to choke and cripple
economic growth across the continent. The highest burden is attributable
to malaria and tuberculosis (TB), which also remain among the deadliest
infectious diseases affecting mankind the world over (Malaria, 627,000
deaths; TB, 1.5 million deaths, in 2020). In achieving self-determination
with respect to the health needs of all who live on the continent,
Africa must align with global north efforts and be a source of health
innovation. This will in part require the creation of an ecosystem
of innovative pharmaceutical R&D and expanding it across the continent
by scaling up through sustained performance and excellence. To this
end, the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre at University
of Cape Town in South Africa has risen to this challenge. Here, we
highlight the innovation experiences gained at H3D, covering the advances
made in our quest to contribute to a global pipeline of therapeutic
interventions against malaria and TB. We discuss selected chemical
series starting from their identification, structure–activity
relationships, mode of action, safety, proof-of-concept studies, and
lessons learned.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinayak Singh
- Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D), University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
- South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery and Development Research Unit, Department of Chemistry and Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Dickson Mambwe
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | | | - Kelly Chibale
- Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D), University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
- South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery and Development Research Unit, Department of Chemistry and Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
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Verouti SN, Pujol-Giménez J, Bermudez-Lekerika P, Scherler L, Bhardwaj R, Thomas A, Lenglet S, Siegrist M, Hofstetter W, Fuster DG, Hediger MA, Escher G, Vogt B. The Allelic Variant A391T of Metal Ion Transporter ZIP8 (SLC39A8) Leads to Hypotension and Enhanced Insulin Resistance. Front Physiol 2022; 13:912277. [PMID: 35784893 PMCID: PMC9240775 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.912277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The metal ion transporter ZIP8 (SLC39A8) mediates cellular uptake of vital divalent metal ions. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) showed that the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variant A391T (rs13107325) is associated with numerous human traits, including reduced arterial blood pressure, increased body mass index and hyperlipidemia. We analyzed in vitro the transport properties of mutant ZIP8 A391T and investigated in vivo in mice the physiological effects of this polymorphism. In vitro, the intrinsic transport properties of mutant ZIP8 were similar to those of wild type ZIP8, but cellular uptake of zinc, cadmium and iron was attenuated due to reduced ZIP8 plasma membrane expression. We then generated the ZIP8 A393T mice (ZIP8KI) that carry the corresponding polymorphism and characterized their phenotype. We observed lower protein expression in lung and kidney membrane extracts in ZIP8KI mice. The ZIP8KI mice exhibited striking changes in metal ion composition of the tissues, including cobalt, palladium, mercury and platinum. In agreement with GWAS, ZIP8KI mice showed reduced arterial blood pressure. Body weight and plasma lipid composition remained unchanged, although these features were reported to be increased in GWAS. ZIP8KI mice also exhibited remarkable insulin resistance and were protected from elevated blood glucose when challenged by dietary sucrose supplementation. We showed that increased hepatic insulin receptor expression and decreased ZnT8 (slc30a8) metal ion transporter mRNA expression are associated with this phenotypic change. In conclusion, our data reveal that ZIP8 plays an important role in blood pressure regulation and glucose homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia N. Verouti
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jonai Pujol-Giménez
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Paola Bermudez-Lekerika
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Laeticia Scherler
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Rajesh Bhardwaj
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Signal Transduction Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Aurélien Thomas
- Forensic Toxicology and Chemistry Unit, CURML, Lausanne University Hospital, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland
- Faculty Unit of Toxicology, CURML, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sébastien Lenglet
- Forensic Toxicology and Chemistry Unit, CURML, Lausanne University Hospital, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Mark Siegrist
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Willy Hofstetter
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Daniel G. Fuster
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Matthias A. Hediger
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- *Correspondence: Matthias A. Hediger, ; Geneviève Escher, ; Bruno Vogt,
| | - Geneviève Escher
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- *Correspondence: Matthias A. Hediger, ; Geneviève Escher, ; Bruno Vogt,
| | - Bruno Vogt
- Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- *Correspondence: Matthias A. Hediger, ; Geneviève Escher, ; Bruno Vogt,
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Pujol‐Giménez J, Poirier M, Bühlmann S, Schuppisser C, Bhardwaj R, Awale M, Visini R, Javor S, Hediger MA, Reymond J. Inhibitors of Human Divalent Metal Transporters DMT1 (SLC11A2) and ZIP8 (SLC39A8) from a GDB-17 Fragment Library. ChemMedChem 2021; 16:3306-3314. [PMID: 34309203 PMCID: PMC8596699 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202100467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Solute carrier proteins (SLCs) are membrane proteins controlling fluxes across biological membranes and represent an emerging class of drug targets. Here we searched for inhibitors of divalent metal transporters in a library of 1,676 commercially available 3D-shaped fragment-like molecules from the generated database GDB-17, which lists all possible organic molecules up to 17 atoms of C, N, O, S and halogen following simple criteria for chemical stability and synthetic feasibility. While screening against DMT1 (SLC11A2), an iron transporter associated with hemochromatosis and for which only very few inhibitors are known, only yielded two weak inhibitors, our approach led to the discovery of the first inhibitor of ZIP8 (SLC39A8), a zinc transporter associated with manganese homeostasis and osteoarthritis but with no previously reported pharmacology, demonstrating that this target is druggable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonai Pujol‐Giménez
- Department of Biomedical Research and Department of Nephrology and Hypertension Membrane Transport Discovery Lab Inselspital, Bern University HospitalUniversity of BernCH-3010BernSwitzerland
| | - Marion Poirier
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
| | - Sven Bühlmann
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
| | - Céline Schuppisser
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
| | - Rajesh Bhardwaj
- Department of Biomedical Research and Department of Nephrology and Hypertension Membrane Transport Discovery Lab Inselspital, Bern University HospitalUniversity of BernCH-3010BernSwitzerland
| | - Mahendra Awale
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
| | - Ricardo Visini
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
| | - Sacha Javor
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
| | - Matthias A. Hediger
- Department of Biomedical Research and Department of Nephrology and Hypertension Membrane Transport Discovery Lab Inselspital, Bern University HospitalUniversity of BernCH-3010BernSwitzerland
| | - Jean‐Louis Reymond
- Department of Chemistry Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of BernFreiestrasse 33012BernSwitzerland
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