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Huskin G, Chen J, Davis T, Jun HW. Tissue-Engineered 3D In Vitro Disease Models for High-Throughput Drug Screening. Tissue Eng Regen Med 2023; 20:523-538. [PMID: 36892736 PMCID: PMC10313592 DOI: 10.1007/s13770-023-00522-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2023] Open
Abstract
During high-throughput drug screening, in vitro models are fabricated and the effects of therapeutics on the models evaluated in high throughput-for example, with automated liquid handling systems and microplate reader-based high-throughput screening (HTS) assays. The most frequently-used model systems for HTS, 2D models, do not adequately model the in vivo 3D microenvironment-an important aspect of which is the extracellular matrix-and therefore, 2D models may not be appropriate for drug screening. Instead, tissue-engineered 3D models with extracellular matrix-mimicking components are destined to become the preferred in vitro systems for HTS. However, for 3D models, such as 3D cell-laden hydrogels and scaffolds, cell sheets, and spheroids as well as 3D microfluidic and organ-on-a-chip systems, to replace 2D models in HTS, they must be compatible with high-throughput fabrication schemes and evaluation methods. In this review, we summarize HTS in 2D models and discuss recent studies that have successfully demonstrated HTS-compatible 3D models of high-impact diseases, such as cancers or cardiovascular diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Huskin
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA
| | - Jun Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA
| | - Trenton Davis
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA
| | - Ho-Wook Jun
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.
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Wang X, Li N, Ma M, Han Y, Rao K. Immunotoxicity In Vitro Assays for Environmental Pollutants under Paradigm Shift in Toxicity Tests. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 20:273. [PMID: 36612599 PMCID: PMC9819277 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20010273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
With the outbreak of COVID-19, increasingly more attention has been paid to the effects of environmental factors on the immune system of organisms, because environmental pollutants may act in synergy with viruses by affecting the immunity of organisms. The immune system is a developing defense system formed by all metazoans in the course of struggling with various internal and external factors, whose damage may lead to increased susceptibility to pathogens and diseases. Due to a greater vulnerability of the immune system, immunotoxicity has the potential to be the early event of other toxic effects, and should be incorporated into environmental risk assessment. However, compared with other toxicity endpoints, e.g., genotoxicity, endocrine toxicity, or developmental toxicity, there are many challenges for the immunotoxicity test of environmental pollutants; this is due to the lack of detailed mechanisms of action and reliable assay methods. In addition, with the strong appeal for animal-free experiments, there has been a significant shift in the toxicity test paradigm, from traditional animal experiments to high-throughput in vitro assays that rely on cell lines. Therefore, there is an urgent need to build high-though put immunotoxicity test methods to screen massive environmental pollutants. This paper reviews the common methods of immunotoxicity assays, including assays for direct immunotoxicity and skin sensitization. Direct immunotoxicity mainly refers to immunosuppression, for which the assays mostly use mixed immune cells or isolated single cells from animals with obvious problems, such as high cost, complex experimental operation, strong variability and so on. Meanwhile, there have been no stable and standard cell lines targeting immune functions developed for high-throughput tests. Compared with direct immunotoxicity, skin sensitizer screening has developed relatively mature in vitro assay methods based on an adverse outcome pathway (AOP), which points out the way forward for the paradigm shift in toxicity tests. According to the experience of skin sensitizer screening, this paper proposes that we also should seek appropriate nodes and establish more complete AOPs for immunosuppression and other immune-mediated diseases. Then, effective in vitro immunotoxicity assay methods can be developed targeting key events, simultaneously coordinating the studies of the chemical immunotoxicity mechanism, and further promoting the paradigm shift in the immunotoxicity test.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinge Wang
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Wastewater Detoxication and Resource Recovery, Beijing 100085, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Na Li
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Wastewater Detoxication and Resource Recovery, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Mei Ma
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Wastewater Detoxication and Resource Recovery, Beijing 100085, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yingnan Han
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Wastewater Detoxication and Resource Recovery, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Kaifeng Rao
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Wastewater Detoxication and Resource Recovery, Beijing 100085, China
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Abstract
Reporter gene assays are widely used in high-throughput screening (HTS) to identify compounds that modulate gene expression. Traditionally a reporter gene assay is built by cloning an endogenous promoter sequence or synthetic response elements in the regulatory region of a reporter gene to monitor transcriptional activity of a specific biological process (exogenous reporter assay). In contrast, an endogenous locus reporter has a reporter gene inserted in the endogenous gene locus that allows the reporter gene to be expressed under the control of the same regulatory elements as the endogenous gene, thus more accurately reflecting the changes seen in the regulation of the actual gene. In this chapter, we introduce some of the considerations behind building a reporter gene assay for high-throughput compound screening and describe the methods we have utilized to establish 1536-well format endogenous locus reporter and exogenous reporter assays for the screening of compounds that modulate Myc pathway activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaping Liu
- Screening & Protein Sciences, Merck Research Labs, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA, USA
| | - Jeffrey Hermes
- Screening and Translational Enzymology, Roche, Basel, Roche, Basel, Canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland
| | - Jing Li
- Screening & Protein Sciences, Merck Research Labs, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA, USA
| | - Matthew Tudor
- Screening & Protein Sciences, Merck Research Labs, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA, USA.
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Abstract
Synthetic biology (SB) is an emerging discipline, which is slowly reorienting the field of drug discovery. For thousands of years, living organisms such as plants were the major source of human medicines. The difficulty in resynthesizing natural products, however, often turned pharmaceutical industries away from this rich source for human medicine. More recently, progress on transformation through genetic manipulation of biosynthetic units in microorganisms has opened the possibility of in-depth exploration of the large chemical space of natural products derivatives. Success of SB in drug synthesis culminated with the bioproduction of artemisinin by microorganisms, a tour de force in protein and metabolic engineering. Today, synthetic cells are not only used as biofactories but also used as cell-based screening platforms for both target-based and phenotypic-based approaches. Engineered genetic circuits in synthetic cells are also used to decipher disease mechanisms or drug mechanism of actions and to study cell-cell communication within bacteria consortia. This review presents latest developments of SB in the field of drug discovery, including some challenging issues such as drug resistance and drug toxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Pablo Carbonell
- Faculty of Life Sciences, SYNBIOCHEM Centre, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS), Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB), Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
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Rosa F, Sales KC, Cunha BR, Couto A, Lopes MB, Calado CRC. A comprehensive high-throughput FTIR spectroscopy-based method for evaluating the transfection event: estimating the transfection efficiency and extracting associated metabolic responses. Anal Bioanal Chem 2015; 407:8097-108. [PMID: 26329279 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-015-8983-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2015] [Revised: 07/29/2015] [Accepted: 08/14/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Reporter genes are routinely used in every laboratory for molecular and cellular biology for studying heterologous gene expression and general cellular biological mechanisms, such as transfection processes. Although well characterized and broadly implemented, reporter genes present serious limitations, either by involving time-consuming procedures or by presenting possible side effects on the expression of the heterologous gene or even in the general cellular metabolism. Fourier transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) spectroscopy was evaluated to simultaneously analyze in a rapid (minutes) and high-throughput mode (using 96-wells microplates), the transfection efficiency, and the effect of the transfection process on the host cell biochemical composition and metabolism. Semi-adherent HEK and adherent AGS cell lines, transfected with the plasmid pVAX-GFP using Lipofectamine, were used as model systems. Good partial least squares (PLS) models were built to estimate the transfection efficiency, either considering each cell line independently (R (2) ≥ 0.92; RMSECV ≤ 2 %) or simultaneously considering both cell lines (R (2) = 0.90; RMSECV = 2 %). Additionally, the effect of the transfection process on the HEK cell biochemical and metabolic features could be evaluated directly from the FT-IR spectra. Due to the high sensitivity of the technique, it was also possible to discriminate the effect of the transfection process from the transfection reagent on KEK cells, e.g., by the analysis of spectral biomarkers and biochemical and metabolic features. The present results are far beyond what any reporter gene assay or other specific probe can offer for these purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Rosa
- Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Estrada Otávio Pato, 2635-631, Rio de Mouro, Portugal
| | - Kevin C Sales
- Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Estrada Otávio Pato, 2635-631, Rio de Mouro, Portugal
| | - Bernardo R Cunha
- Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Estrada Otávio Pato, 2635-631, Rio de Mouro, Portugal
| | - Andreia Couto
- Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Estrada Otávio Pato, 2635-631, Rio de Mouro, Portugal
| | - Marta B Lopes
- Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Estrada Otávio Pato, 2635-631, Rio de Mouro, Portugal.,Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Superior Técnico, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Cecília R C Calado
- Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Rua Conselheiro Emídio Navarro 1, 1959-007, Lisbon, Portugal.
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Lin CC, Yang CH, Lin YJ, Chiu YW, Chen CY. Establishment of a melanogenesis regulation assay system using a fluorescent protein reporter combined with the promoters for the melanogenesis-related genes in human melanoma cells. Enzyme Microb Technol 2014; 68:1-9. [PMID: 25435499 DOI: 10.1016/j.enzmictec.2014.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2014] [Revised: 09/18/2014] [Accepted: 09/18/2014] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
There are two established depigmenting agent assays currently in use. However, these methods are unreliable and time-consuming. Therefore, it will be valuable to establish a better assay system for depigmenting agent analysis. In this study, we established a melanogenesis regulation assay system using a fluorescent protein reporter combined with the promoters for the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase (Tyr) and dopachrome tautomerase (Dct) genes in MeWo human melanoma cells. We used several melanogenesis regulators, including theophylline, hesperetin, arbutin and rottlerin, to confirm the function of this assay system. The established MeWo/pMITF-EGFP, MeWo/pTyr-EGFP and MeWo/pDct-EGFP stable cells integrated the pMITF-EGFP, pTyr-EGFP and pDct-EGFP plasmids into their genomic DNA. These stably transfected cells were used to examine alterations in the expression of the MITF, Tyr and Dct genes. All of the tested compounds, including theophylline, hesperetin, arbutin and rottlerin, could be analyzed in the stable cells, producing reliable results. Therefore, we believe that this melanogenesis regulation assay system can be used as a rapid and reliable assay system to analyze the regulation of melanogenesis by many known or unknown compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chih-Chien Lin
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan, ROC.
| | - Chao-Hsun Yang
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Ying-Ju Lin
- Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yuh-Der Road, Taichung 40447, Taiwan, ROC; School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Ya-Wen Chiu
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Cheng-Yu Chen
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan, ROC; Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo-Kuang Road, Taichung 40227, Taiwan, ROC
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Abstract
Analysis of the origins of new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1999 to 2008 suggested that phenotypic screening strategies had been more productive than target-based approaches in the discovery of first-in-class small-molecule drugs. However, given the relatively recent introduction of target-based approaches in the context of the long time frames of drug development, their full impact might not yet have become apparent. Here, we present an analysis of the origins of all 113 first-in-class drugs approved by the FDA from 1999 to 2013, which shows that the majority (78) were discovered through target-based approaches (45 small-molecule drugs and 33 biologics). In addition, of 33 drugs identified in the absence of a target hypothesis, 25 were found through a chemocentric approach in which compounds with known pharmacology served as the starting point, with only eight coming from what we define here as phenotypic screening: testing a large number of compounds in a target-agnostic assay that monitors phenotypic changes. We also discuss the implications for drug discovery strategies, including viewing phenotypic screening as a novel discipline rather than as a neoclassical approach.
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Yang CH, Kuo WT, Chuang YT, Chen CY, Lin CC. Cyclin B1 destruction box-mediated protein instability: the enhanced sensitivity of fluorescent-protein-based reporter gene system. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2013; 2013:732307. [PMID: 24416725 PMCID: PMC3876668 DOI: 10.1155/2013/732307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2013] [Accepted: 11/19/2013] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The periodic expression and destruction of several cyclins are the most important steps for the exact regulation of cell cycle. Cyclins are degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system during cell cycle. Besides, a short sequence near the N-terminal of cyclin B called the destruction box (D-box; CDB) is also required. Fluorescent-protein-based reporter gene system is insensitive to analysis because of the overly stable fluorescent proteins. Therefore, in this study, we use human CDB fused with both enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) at C-terminus and red fluorescent protein (RFP, DsRed) at N-terminus in the transfected human melanoma cells to examine the effects of CDB on different fluorescent proteins. Our results indicated that CDB-fused fluorescent protein can be used to examine the slight gene regulations in the reporter gene system and have the potential to be the system for screening of functional compounds in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Hsun Yang
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, No. 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan
| | - Wan-Ting Kuo
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, No. 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan
| | - Yun-Ting Chuang
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, No. 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan
| | - Cheng-Yu Chen
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, No. 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo-Kuang Road, Taichung 40227, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Chien Lin
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Providence University, No. 200, Section 7, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung 43301, Taiwan
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Honarparvar B, Govender T, Maguire GEM, Soliman MES, Kruger HG. Integrated Approach to Structure-Based Enzymatic Drug Design: Molecular Modeling, Spectroscopy, and Experimental Bioactivity. Chem Rev 2013; 114:493-537. [DOI: 10.1021/cr300314q] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bahareh Honarparvar
- Catalysis
and Peptide Research Unit and ‡School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Thavendran Govender
- Catalysis
and Peptide Research Unit and ‡School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Glenn E. M. Maguire
- Catalysis
and Peptide Research Unit and ‡School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Mahmoud E. S. Soliman
- Catalysis
and Peptide Research Unit and ‡School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Hendrik G. Kruger
- Catalysis
and Peptide Research Unit and ‡School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa
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