Leonard W. Rozamus

Regulation of gene expression by synthetic dimerizers with novel specificity

New synthetic chemical inducers of dimerization, comprising homodimeric FKBP ligands with engineered specificity for the designed point mutant F36V, have been evaluated for inducing targeted gene expression in mammalian cells. Structure-activity studies indicated that high-affinity dimerizers such as AP1903 are ineffective, perhaps due to kinetic trapping of non-productive dimers, whereas lower-affinity molecules, exemplified by AP1889 and AP1966, potently activate transcription.

Identification of novel rapamycin derivatives as low-level impurities in active pharmaceutical ingredients

We describe the identification of novel rapamycin derivatives present as low-level impurities in active pharmaceutical ingredients using an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. Rapamycin, a fermentation-derived natural product is itself used clinically and provides the starting material for several rapamycin analog drugs, typically used in oncology. LC-MS proved a sensitive means to analyze impurity profiles in batches of rapamycin. MS fragmentation was used to gain structural insight into these impurities, usually fermentation by-products, structurally very similar to rapamycin. In cases where MS fragmentation was unable to provide unambiguous structural identification, the impurities were isolated and purified using orthogonal HPLC methods. Using the higher mass sensitivity of small-volume NMR microprobes, submilligram amounts of isolated impurities were sufficient for further characterization by multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. Full assignment of the 1H and 13C NMR signals revealed the structure of these impurities at an atomic level. This systematic workflow enabled the identification of several novel rapamycin congeners from active pharmaceutical ingredient without the need for large-scale isolation of impurities. For illustration, two novel rapamycin derivatives are described in this study: 12-ethyl-rapamycin and 33-ethyl-rapamycin, which exemplify previously unreported modifications on the carbon skeleton of the rapamycin macrocycle. The methodologies described here can be of wide use for identification of closely related structures found; for example as fermentation by-products, metabolites or degradants of natural product-based drugs.