Marvin D. Schulman

Mechanism of action of MK-401 against Fasciola hepatica: Inhibition of phosphoglycerate kinase

The effect of MK-401 (4-amino-6-trichloroethenyl 1,3-benzenedisulfonamide) on Fasciola hepatica phosphoglycerate kinase (EC 2.7.2.3) was investigated. MK-401 was a competitive inhibitor of both 3-phosphoglycerate and ATP and had a Ki of 0.29 mM. ATP, 1,3-diphosphoglycerate and MK-401 protected the Fasciola enzyme from inhibition by N-ethylmaleimide. Analogues of MK-401 with different substituents at the 6 position (R = Cl, CF3, C2 F3, C3 F7) were competitive inhibitors of both 3-phosphoglycerate and ATP and a good correlation between the Ki and in vivo activity of these analogues was observed.

Steroidal and Triterpenoidal Fungal Metabolites as Ligands of Liver X Receptors

Cholesterol homeostasis is tightly controlled process that involves a variety of regulators including liver X receptors (LXR). Agonists of LXR are expected to increase cholesterol efflux, lower LDL, and raise HDL levels. Screening of a natural product library of microbial extracts using a LXR-scintillation proximity assay (SPA) binding assay and bioassay-guided fractionation of a number of fungal extracts led to the isolation of five ergostane and a cycloartane derivative. These compounds exhibited IC50 value ranging 0.5∼9 µM in the binding assay for α-receptor and a number of these showed in vitro agonist activity in the coactivator association assays but lacked the cell based LXR activation. The isolation and LXR activity of these compounds are described.

Development of a high throughput scintillation proximity assay for hepatitis C virus NS3 protease that reduces the proportion of competitive inhibitors identified.

A screening assay has been developed for hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3 protease using the scintillation proximity assay (SPA) technology. The sequence of the peptide substrate used was taken from the site cleaved by the enzyme in the mature nonstructural protein of HCV. The peptide was biotinylated at the N-terminus and tritiated at the C-terminus so that a decrease in signal was detected as a result of enzyme activity. IC50 values were calculated for the cleaved product, and it was shown that the value obtained was dependent on the substrate concentration used. The effect of substrate concentration on the inhibition of HCV NS3 protease was further highlighted in a mock screening assay, using colored natural product samples, in which the hit rate was altered by a change in substrate concentration. An increase in substrate concentration reduced the proportion of competitive inhibitors identified. This study highlighted the importance of optimizing the components used in SPA assays in order to obtain an assay format valid for high throughput screening.