Targeting lung macrophages for fungal and parasitic pulmonary infections with innovative amphotericin B dry powder inhalers

The incidence of fungal pulmonary infections is known to be on the increase, and yet there is an alarming gap in terms of marketed antifungal therapies that are available for pulmonary administration. Amphotericin B (AmB) is a highly efficient broad-spectrum antifungal only marketed as an intravenous formulation. Based on the lack of effective antifungal and antiparasitic pulmonary treatments, the aim of this study was to develop a carbohydrate-based AmB dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation, prepared by spray drying. Amorphous AmB microparticles were developed by combining 39.7 % AmB with 39.7 % γ-cyclodextrin, 8.1 % mannose and 12.5 % leucine. An increase in the mannose concentration from 8.1 to 29.8 %, led to partial drug crystallisation. Both formulations showed good in vitro lung deposition characteristics (80 % FPF < 5 µm and MMAD < 3 µm) at different air flow rates (60 and 30 L/min) when used with a DPI, but also during nebulisation upon reconstitution in water.

Comparative study of doxorubicin-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles prepared by single and double emulsion methods

This study describes how the control of doxorubicin (DOX) polarity allows to encapsulate it inside poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles formulated either by a single oil-in-water (O/W) or a double water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsification method (SE and DE, respectively). DOX is commercially available as a water soluble hydrochloride salt, which is useful for DE. The main difficulty related to DE approach is that the low affinity of hydrophilic drugs to the polymer limits entrapment efficiency. Compared to DE method, SE protocol is easier and should provide an additional gain in entrapment efficiency. To be encapsulated by SE technique, DOX should be used in a more lipophilic molecular form. We evaluated the lipophilicity of DOX in terms of apparent partition coefficient (P) and modulated it by adjusting the pH of the aqueous phase. The highest P values were obtained at pH ranging from 8.6 to 9, i. e. between two DOX pK(a) values (8.2 and 9.6). The conditions favorable for the drug lipophilicity were then used to formulate DOX-loaded PLGA nanoparticles by SE method. DOX encapsulation efficiency as well as release profiles were evaluated for these nanoparticles and compared to those with nanoparticles formulated by DE. Our results indicate that the encapsulation of DOX in nanoparticles formulated by SE provides an increased drug entrapment efficiency and decreases the burst effect.

Interleukin-1 signaling is dependent on free thiols

Stimulation of the Interleukin-1 receptor type I (IL-1-RI) with IL-1 activates an associated serine/threonine kinase, IRAK, which phosphorylates downstream targets, resulting in NFkappaB activation. The signaling cascade is accompanied by oxidative processes and contains putative targets for redox regulation. Preincubation of the murine T cell line EL-4 and the human umbilical cord vein endothelial cell line ECV 304 with thiol modifying compounds like diamide, menadione or phenylarsine oxide inhibited the IL-1-induced phosphorylation of an endogenous substrate with a molecular mass of 60 kD. In the endothelial cell line, a second target of about 85 kD was phosphorylated after IL-1 stimulation, which was also inhibited by thiol modification. These data suggest that IL-1 signal transduction depends on free thiols which might be targets for redox regulation not only in lymphocytes, but also in endothelial cells.

Thiol modulation inhibits the interleukin (IL)-1-mediated activation of an IL-1 receptor-associated protein kinase and NF-kappa B

The interleukin-1 receptor type I (IL-1RI) is associated with other proteins thus forming a complex system by which IL-1 exerts its various signals. The initiating event is still uncertain, but activation of a recently described receptor-associated protein kinase is one of the earliest events detectable (Martin et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 1994. 24: 1566). IL-1 signaling is commonly accompanied by oxidative processes and is thought to be subject to redox regulation. We therefore investigated whether the activation of the IL-1RI-associated protein kinase could be a target for redox regulation and whether an altered activity of the kinase could influence IL-1-mediated NF-kappa B activation. A murine T cell line, EL4, was stimulated with IL-1 with and without pretreatment with different compounds known to influence the cellular redox status. Thiol modifying agents like diamide, menadione, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), diethyl dithiocarbamate or phenylarsine oxide inhibited the IL-1-induced activation of the IL-1RI-associated protein kinase. N-Acetylcysteine, alpha,alpha'-dipyridyl, aminotriazole or nitrofurantoin did not show any effect. The inhibition by PDTC was reversible unless glutathione synthesis was blocked by buthionine sulfoximine. The described conditions which inhibited or prevented the activation of the IL-1RI-associated kinase similarly impaired the activation of NF-kappa B in EL4 cells. From these observations we conclude that free thiols in the IL-1RI complex are essential for the activation of the IL-1RI-associated protein kinase and that this process is mandatory for IL-1 signaling leading to NF-kappa B activation.