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Guo Y, Ji S, Wang W, Wong S, Yen CW, Hu C, Leung DH, Plise E, Zhang S, Zhang C, Anene UA, Zhang D, Cunningham CN, Khojasteh SC, Su D. An Integrated Strategy for Assessing the Metabolic Stability and Biotransformation of Macrocyclic Peptides in Drug Discovery toward Oral Delivery. Anal Chem 2022; 94:2032-2041. [PMID: 35041378 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c04008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Macrocyclic peptides (MCPs) are an emerging class of promising drug modalities that can be used to interrogate hard-to-drug ("undruggable") targets. However, their poor intestinal stability is one of the major liabilities or obstacles for oral drug delivery. We therefore investigated the metabolic stability and biotransformation of MCPs via a systematic approach and established an integrated in vitro assay strategy to facilitate MCP drug discovery, with a focus on oral delivery liabilities. A group of diverse MCPs were incubated with representative matrices, including simulated intestinal fluid with pancreatin (SIFP), human enterocytes, liver S9 fractions, liver lysosomes, plasma, and recombinant enzymes. The results revealed that the stability and biotransformation of MCPs varied, with the major metabolic pathways identified in different matrices. Under the given conditions, the selected MCPs generally showed better stability in plasma compared to that in SIFP. Our data suggest that pancreatic enzymes act as the primary metabolic barrier for the oral delivery of MCPs, mainly through hydrolysis of their backbone amide bonds. Whereas in enterocytes, multiple metabolic pathways appeared to be involved and resulted in metabolic reactions such as oxidation and reduction in addition to hydrolysis. Further studies suggested that lysosomal peptidase cathepsin B could be a major enzyme responsible for the cleavage of side-chain amide bonds in lysosomes. Collectively, we developed and implemented an integrated assay for assessing the metabolic stability and biotransformation of MCPs for compound screening in the discovery stage toward oral delivery. The proposed question-driven assay cascade can provide biotransformation insights that help to guide and facilitate lead candidate selection and optimization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukuang Guo
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Shaofei Ji
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Wei Wang
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Susan Wong
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Chun-Wan Yen
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Chloe Hu
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Dennis H Leung
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Emile Plise
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Shu Zhang
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Chenghong Zhang
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Uchenna A Anene
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Donglu Zhang
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | | | - S Cyrus Khojasteh
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Dian Su
- Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
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Should digestion assays be used to estimate persistence of potential allergens in tests for safety of novel food proteins? Clin Mol Allergy 2009; 7:1. [PMID: 19146693 PMCID: PMC2632610 DOI: 10.1186/1476-7961-7-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2008] [Accepted: 01/15/2009] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Food allergies affect an estimated 3 to 4% of adults and up to 8% of children in developed western countries. Results from in vitro simulated gastric digestion studies with purified proteins are routinely used to assess the allergenic potential of novel food proteins. The digestion of purified proteins in simulated gastric fluid typically progresses in an exponential fashion allowing persistence to be quantified using pseudo-first-order rate constants or half lives. However, the persistence of purified proteins in simulated gastric fluid is a poor predictor of the allergenic status of food proteins, potentially due to food matrix effects that can be significant in vivo. The evaluation of the persistence of novel proteins in whole, prepared food exposed to simulated gastric fluid may provide a more correlative result, but such assays should be thoroughly validated to demonstrate a predictive capacity before they are accepted to predict the allergenic potential of novel food proteins.
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Herman R, Gao Y, Storer N. Acid-induced unfolding kinetics in simulated gastric digestion of proteins. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 2006; 46:93-9. [PMID: 16828212 DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2006.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Stability in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) is used as one element in a weight-of-evidence evaluation aimed at determining if a novel protein present in food represents an allergenic risk. The SGF assay is designed to measure the susceptibility of a protein to the enzyme pepsin under acidic conditions, and results are often considered to be primarily a reflection of the vulnerability of a protein to pepsin hydrolysis. However, proteins may not be susceptible to protease cleavage in their native folded conformation, and several studies confirm that protein unfolding is often a prerequisite for pepsinolysis. Here, we explore protein unfolding kinetics as a limiting factor in the digestion of proteins in SGF. Theoretical digestion patterns generated using consecutive and simultaneous exponential models, and the fit of a two stage consecutive exponential model (unfolding followed by pepsinolysis) to laboratory data, support unfolding kinetics as playing a critical role in determining the speed at which many proteins digest in SGF. Results also support modeling of the terminal phase of digestion with a single exponential decline as being a good stability estimate for the most recalcitrant protein form.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rod Herman
- Dow AgroSciences LLC, 9330 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268, USA.
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Herman RA, Storer NP, Gao Y. Digestion assays in allergenicity assessment of transgenic proteins. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 2006; 114:1154-7. [PMID: 16882518 PMCID: PMC1552003 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.8803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2005] [Accepted: 05/10/2006] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The food-allergy risk assessment for transgenic proteins expressed in crops is currently based on a weight-of-evidence approach that holistically considers multiple lines of evidence. This approach recognizes that no single test or property is known to distinguish allergens from nonallergens. The stability of a protein to digestion, as predicted by an in vitro simulated gastric fluid assay, currently is used as one element in the risk assessment process. A review of the literature on the use of the simulated gastric fluid assay to predict the allergenic status of proteins suggests that more extensive kinetic studies with well-characterized reference proteins are required before the predictive value of this assay can be adequately judged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rod A Herman
- Dow AgroSciences LLC, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268, USA.
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Chen TL, Lo YC, Hu WT, Wu MC, Chen ST, Chang HM. Microencapsulation and modification of synthetic peptides of food proteins reduces the blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2003; 51:1671-1675. [PMID: 12617603 DOI: 10.1021/jf020900u] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Synthetic peptides were microencapsulated into liposomes, cycled with a disulfide bond or modified with d-phenylglycine (d-phg) at the N-terminal, and their antihypertensive effects as orally administered (0.18 mM/kg body weight) to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were measured. The microencapsulated Leu-Lys-Pro reduced significantly the systolic blood pressures of SHR by 45 mmHg and showed a prolonged duration, revealing the significant protective effect of encapsulation. d-phg-Leu-Arg-Pro showed a duration about 2 h shorter than that of the peptide without modification. In addition, cyclic Leu-Arg-Pro peptide with a disulfide bond between the N- and C-terminal amino acids reduced the systolic blood pressure of SHR by 35 mmHg and displayed a lengthy duration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzy-Li Chen
- Graduate Institute of Food Science & Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106-17, Taiwan
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Zhang L, Tam JP. Synthesis and Application of Unprotected Cyclic Peptides as Building Blocks for Peptide Dendrimers. J Am Chem Soc 1997. [DOI: 10.1021/ja9621105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 164] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lianshan Zhang
- Contribution from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, A5119 MCN, Nashville, TN 37232-2363
| | - James P. Tam
- Contribution from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, A5119 MCN, Nashville, TN 37232-2363
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Mazaleyrat JP, Reboud-Ravaux M, Wakselman M. Synthesis and enzymic hydrolysis of cyclic peptides containing an anthranilic acid residue. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE AND PROTEIN RESEARCH 1987; 30:622-33. [PMID: 3436698 DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-3011.1987.tb03373.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Two cyclic peptides cyclo (Phe-MeAnt-Glyn) with MeAnt = 5-methyl-anthranilic acid residue, n = 4 (3b) and n = 6 (4b), have been synthesized in solution and their reaction with alpha-chymotrypsin analyzed. The polyglycyl chain was prepared by the phosphazo method; cyclization at the Gly-Phe site occurred in good yield using the azide method. Catalysis of the hydrolysis of peptides 3b and 4b by alpha-chymotrypsin was characterized at 37 degrees by the apparent second-order rate constants kcat/Km 0.12 and 1.15 M-1 S-1, respectively, in agreement with the usual acceleration observed upon enlargement of the size of the peptidic ring in cyclic peptides. alpha-Chymotrypsin specifically split the Phe-MeAnt amide bond in cyclopeptide 4b. This specific orientation suggests that analogous structures with a functionalized methylene group instead of the methyl substituent can be used in the design of suicide substrates for serine proteases.
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Kosui N, Kato T, Izumiya N. Synthesis ofcyclo(–L-Leucyl–L-lysyl–glycyl–)2and Its Hydrolysis by Trypsin. BULLETIN OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 1978. [DOI: 10.1246/bcsj.51.3665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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