Naoaki Murao

Systemic Administration of C-Type Natriuretic Peptide as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Skeletal Dysplasias

Skeletal dysplasias are a group of genetic disorders characterized by severe impairment of bone growth. Various forms of them add to produce a significant morbidity and mortality, yet no efficient drug therapy has been developed to date. We previously demonstrated that C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), a member of the natriuretic peptide family, is a potent stimulator of endochondral bone growth. Furthermore, we exhibited that targeted overexpression of a CNP transgene in the growth plate rescued the impaired bone growth observed in a mouse model of achondroplasia (Ach), the most frequent form of human skeletal dysplasias, leading us to propose that CNP may prove to be an effective treatment for this disorder. In the present study, to elucidate whether or not the systemic administration of CNP is a novel drug therapy for skeletal dysplasias, we have investigated the effects of plasma CNP on impaired bone growth in Ach mice that specifically overexpress CNP in the liver under the control of human serum amyloid P component promoter or in those treated with a continuous CNP infusion system. Our results demonstrated that increased plasma CNP from the liver or by iv administration of synthetic CNP-22 rescued the impaired bone growth phenotype of Ach mice without significant adverse effects. These results indicate that treatment with systemic CNP is a potential therapeutic strategy for skeletal dysplasias, including Ach, in humans.

Design and synthesis of novel allosteric MEK inhibitor CH4987655 as an orally available anticancer agent.

The MAP kinase pathway is one of the most important pathways involved in cell proliferation and differentiation, and its components are promising targets for antitumor drugs. Design and synthesis of a novel MEK inhibitor, based on the 3D-structural information of the target enzyme, and then multidimensional optimization including metabolic stability, physicochemical properties and safety profiles were effectively performed and led to the identification of a clinical candidate for an orally available potent MEK inhibitor, CH4987655, possessing a unique 3-oxo-oxazinane ring structure at the 5-position of the benzamide core structure. CH4987655 exhibits slow dissociation from the MEK enzyme, remarkable in vivo antitumor efficacy both in mono- and combination therapy, desirable metabolic stability, and insignificant MEK inhibition in mouse brain, implying few CNS-related side effects in human. An excellent PK profile and clear target inhibition in PBMC were demonstrated in a healthy volunteer clinical study.

Alteration of intracellular secretory acute phase response proteins expressed in human hepatocyte induced by exposure with interleukin-6

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a principal proinflammatory cytokine inducing the acute phase response in various tissues, including liver. Here, we adopt the FD-LC-MS/MS method, consisting of fluorogenic derivatization (FD), separation by liquid chromatography (LC), and identification of proteins by LC-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), to reveal how exposure to IL-6 alters temporally the intracellular secretory acute phase response (sAPR) proteins expressed in human hepatocytes as compared to non-exposure. Nine altered sAPR proteins were identified in cultures in response to IL-6. Seven of them (serum amyloid A protein, haptoglobin, fibrinogen α chain, fibrinogen β chain, fibrinogen γ chain, α(1)-acid glycoprotein and α(1)-antitrypsin) were significantly increased and two (β(2)-glycoprotein 1 and transferrin) were significantly decreased in response to IL-6. In addition, the transmission speed of transferrin might be much faster than the other sAPR proteins. These results suggest a different molecular mechanism for protein synthesis and the secretory pathway among the sAPR proteins. In this study, we observed the simultaneously and temporally altered expression of sAPR proteins which had been induced by exposure to IL-6 in human hepatocytes, in contrast to previous reports, in all of which the proteins were tested from the time they were secreted into the medium from the cells.

A versatile method for protein-based antigen bioanalysis in non-clinical pharmacokinetics studies of a human monoclonal antibody drug by an immunoaffinity liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A versatile immunoaffinity liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed to quantify the total concentration of a protein-based antigen in non-clinical pharmacokinetics (PK) studies of a human monoclonal antibody drug. The method combines using magnetic beads that have been coated with a commercial anti-human Fc region antibody to capture an immune complex of the antigen and antibody drug, with subsequent digestion and quantification of the antigen-derived tryptic peptide via LC-MS/MS. Although a typical immunoassay or an immunoaffinity LC-MS/MS assay requires an antigen-specific antibody that uses a different epitope from the antibody drug, this method requires only a commercial anti-human Fc region antibody. The method was applied to quantify total receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) in the presence of denosumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific to RANKL. The assay was validated as fit-for-purpose and found to be accurate (<115% interbatch accuracies) and precise (<15%, interbatch coefficient of variation) across a range of 3.13-200ng/mL RANKL. Commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit was not able to determine the total RANKL because interference by denosumab decreased recovery. In contrast, the antibody drug had less effect on the LC-MS/MS method. The method now provides a bioanalytical platform for developing other protein-based antigen assays in the early drug stage.

MHC-associated peptide proteomics enabling highly sensitive detection of immunogenic sequences for the development of therapeutic antibodies with low immunogenicity

ABSTRACT Immunogenicity is a key factor capable of influencing the efficacy and safety of therapeutic antibodies. A recently developed method called MHC-associated peptide proteomics (MAPPs) uses liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry to identify the peptide sequences derived from a therapeutic protein that are presented by major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II) on antigen-presenting cells, and therefore may induce immunogenicity. In this study, we developed a MAPPs technique (called Ab-MAPPs) that has high throughput and can efficiently identify the MHC II-presented peptides derived from therapeutic antibodies using magnetic nanoparticle beads coated with a hydrophilic polymer in the immunoprecipitation process. The magnetic beads could identify more peptides and sequence regions originating from infliximab and adalimumab in a shorter measurement time than Sepharose beads, which are commonly used for MAPPs. Several sequence regions identified by Ab-MAPPs from infliximab corresponded to immunogenic sequences reported by other methods, which suggests the method’s high potential for identifying significant sequences involved in immunogenicity. Furthermore, our study suggests that the Ab-MAPPs method can recognize the difference of a single amino acid residue between similar antibody sequences with different levels of T-cell proliferation activity and can identify potentially immunogenic peptides with high binding affinity to MHC II. In conclusion, Ab-MAPPs is useful for identifying the immunogenic sequences of therapeutic antibodies and will contribute to the design of therapeutic antibodies with low immunogenicity during the drug discovery stage.

Therapeutic potential of CNP for skeletal dysplasias

Background We had revealed that C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is a potent stimulator of endochondral bone growth by using transgenic and knockout mice: transgenic mice with targeted overexpression of CNP in cartilage develop prominent skeletal overgrowth [1], whereas mice depleted with CNP exhibit impaired endochondral bone growth [2]. We planned to translate this effect of CNP into the therapy for skeletal dysplasias, of which the effective drug therapy is not established yet. Here we investigated the effect of CNP on the impaired bone growth of mice model of achondroplasia, the most common form of skeletal dysplasias.