Open Targets: a platform for therapeutic target identification and validation

We have designed and developed a data integration and visualization platform that provides evidence about the association of known and potential drug targets with diseases. The platform is designed to support identification and prioritization of biological targets for follow-up. Each drug target is linked to a disease using integrated genome-wide data from a broad range of data sources. The platform provides either a target-centric workflow to identify diseases that may be associated with a specific target, or a disease-centric workflow to identify targets that may be associated with a specific disease. Users can easily transition between these target- and disease-centric workflows. The Open Targets Validation Platform is accessible at https://www.targetvalidation.org.

Synthesis of trifluoromethyl-substituted pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridines - sequential versus multicomponent reaction approach

A straightforward synthesis of 6-substituted 1-phenyl-3-trifluoromethyl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridines and the corresponding 5-oxides is presented. Hence, microwave-assisted treatment of 5-chloro-1-phenyl-3-trifluoromethylpyrazole-4-carbaldehyde with various terminal alkynes in the presence of tert-butylamine under Sonogashira-type cross-coupling conditions affords the former title compounds in a one-pot multicomponent procedure. Oximes derived from (intermediate) 5-alkynyl-1-phenyl-3-trifluoromethyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carbaldehydes were transformed into the corresponding 1H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridine 5-oxides by silver triflate-catalyzed cyclization. Detailed NMR spectroscopic investigations ((1)H, (13)C, (15)N and (19)F) were undertaken with all obtained products.

Temporal and spatial variations in structural protein expression during the progression from stunned to hibernating myocardium

BACKGROUND

Dysfunctional and normally perfused remote regions show equal myolysis and glycogen accumulation in pig hibernating myocardium. We tested the hypothesis that these arose secondary to elevations in preload rather than ischemia.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Expression of structural protein (desmin, desmoplakin, titin, cardiotin, alpha-smooth muscle actin, lamin-A/C, and lamin-B2) in viable dysfunctional myocardium was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. We performed blinded analysis of paired dysfunctional left anterior descending coronary artery and normal remote subendocardial samples from stunned (24 hours; n=6), and hibernating (2 weeks; n=6) myocardium versus sham controls pigs (n=7). Within 24 hours, cardiac myocytes globally reexpressed alpha-smooth muscle actin. In stunned myocardium, cardiotin was globally reduced, whereas reductions in desmin were restricted to the dysfunctional region. Alterations progressed with the transition to hibernating myocardium, in which desmin, cardiotin, and titin were globally reduced. A qualitatively similar reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins occurred 3 hours after transient elevation of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure to 33+/-3 mm Hg.

CONCLUSIONS

Qualitative cardiomyocyte remodeling similar to that in humans with chronic hibernation occurs rapidly after a critical coronary stenosis is applied, as well as after transient elevations in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure in the absence of ischemia. Thus, reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins in patients with viable dysfunctional myocardium appears to reflect chronic and/or cyclical elevations in preload associated with episodes of spontaneous regional ischemia.