Norbert Wimmer

Dendrimer delivery of an anti-VEGF oligonucleotide into the eye : a long-term study into inhibition of laser- induced CNV, distribution, uptake and toxicity

We have performed a long-term study into the use of a lipophilic amino-acid dendrimer to deliver an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) oligonucleotide (ODN-1) into the eyes of rats and inhibit laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV). In addition, the uptake, distribution and retinal tolerance of the dendrimer plus oligonucleotide conjugates were examined. Analysis of fluorescein angiograms of laser photocoagulated eyes revealed that dendrimer plus ODN-1 significantly inhibited (P<0.05) the development of CNV for 4–6 months by up to 95% in the initial stages. Eyes similarly injected with ODN-1 alone showed no significant difference (P>0.05) in mean severity score at 2 months (2.86±0.09), 4 months (2.15±0.17) or 6 months (2.7±0.12) compared to the vehicle-injected controls. Furthermore, we showed that intravitreally injected ODN-1 tagged with 6-fam was absorbed by a wide area of the retina and penetrated all of the retinal cell layers to the retinal pigment epithelium. Ophthalmological examinations indicated that the dendrimers plus ODN-1 conjugates were well tolerated in vivo, which was later confirmed using immunohistochemistry, which showed no observable increase in antigens associated with inflammation. We conclude that the use of such dendrimers may provide a viable mechanism for the delivery of therapeutic oligonucleotides for the treatment of angiogenic eye diseases.

Discovery of PG545: A Highly Potent and Simultaneous Inhibitor of Angiogenesis, Tumor Growth, and Metastasis

Increasing the aglycone lipophilicity of a series of polysulfated oligosaccharide glycoside heparan sulfate (HS) mimetics via attachment of a steroid or long chain alkyl group resulted in compounds with significantly improved in vitro and ex vivo antiangiogenic activity. The compounds potently inhibited heparanase and HS-binding angiogenic growth factors and displayed improved antitumor and antimetastatic activity in vivo compared with the earlier series. Preliminary pharmacokinetic analyses also revealed significant increases in half-life following iv dosing, ultimately supporting less frequent dosing regimens in preclinical tumor models compared with other HS mimetics. The compounds also displayed only mild anticoagulant activity, a common side effect usually associated with HS mimetics. These efforts led to the identification of 3β-cholestanyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-sulfo-α-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-2,3,6-tri-O-sulfo-α-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-2,3,6-tri-O-sulfo-α-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-2,3,6-tri-O-sulfo-β-d-glucopyranoside, tridecasodium salt (PG545, 18) as a clinical candidate. Compound 18 was recently evaluated in a phase I clinical trial in cancer patients.

The PG500 series: novel heparan sulfate mimetics as potent angiogenesis and heparanase inhibitors for cancer therapy

SummaryHeparan sulfate mimetics, which we have called the PG500 series, have been developed to target the inhibition of both angiogenesis and heparanase activity. This series extends the technology underpinning PI-88, a mixture of highly sulfated oligosaccharides which reached Phase III clinical development for hepatocellular carcinoma. Advances in the chemistry of the PG500 series provide numerous advantages over PI-88. These new compounds are fully sulfated, single entity oligosaccharides attached to a lipophilic moiety, which have been optimized for drug development. The rational design of these compounds has led to vast improvements in potency compared to PI-88, based on in vitro angiogenesis assays and in vivo tumor models. Based on these and other data, PG545 has been selected as the lead clinical candidate for oncology and is currently undergoing formal preclinical development as a novel treatment for advanced cancer.

Syntheses of polycationic dendrimers on lipophilic peptide core for complexation and transport of oligonucleotides

Synthesis of novel polycationic lipophilic peptide core(s) was accomplished and these agents successfully transfected human retinal pigment epithelium cells with ODN1 upon complexation with the oligonucleotide. The level of transfection was indirectly measured by the decreased production of the protein hVEGF (human vascular endothelial growth factor) in comparison to the transfection agent cytofectin GSV.

Synthesis and immunological evaluation of self-adjuvanting glycolipopeptide vaccine candidates

Synthesis of four glycolipids with different number of lauroyl groups on glucose or cellobiose as scaffolds is described. Their immunological evaluations either admixed with or covalently linked to J8, a peptide antigen derived from the C-terminus of the antiphagocytic M-protein of group A streptococcus, are also investigated. Administration of mixtures of J8 and glycolipids to B10BR (H-2(k)) mice induced low-levels of J8-specific IgG antibodies. While glycolipopeptides, in which J8 was covalently linked to the synthetic glycolipids, demonstrated high-levels of antibody titers comparable with the co-administration of these glycolipopeptides with complete Freunds adjuvant, suggesting clearly the strong potency of the synthesized glycolipids as self-adjuvanting moieties.

Functional implications of modifying RyR-activating peptides for membrane permeability

1 Our aim was to determine whether lipoamino acid conjugation of peptides that are high‐affinity activators of ryanodine receptor (RyR) channels would (a) render the peptides membrane permeable, (b) alter their structure or (a) reduce their activity. The peptides correspond to the A region of the II–III loop of the skeletal dihydropyridine receptor. 2 The lipoamino acid conjugation increased the apparent permeability of the peptide across the Caco‐2 cell monolayer by up to ∼20‐fold. 3 Nuclear magnetic resonance showed that the α‐helical structure of critical basic residues, required for optimal activation of RyRs, was retained after conjugation. 4 The conjugated peptides were more effective in enhancing resting Ca2+ release, Ca2+‐induced Ca2+ release and caffeine‐induced Ca2+ release from isolated sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) than their unconjugated counterparts, and significantly enhanced caffeine‐induced Ca2+ release from mechanically skinned extensor digitorum longus (EDL) fibres. 5 The effect of both conjugated and unconjugated peptides on Ca2+ release from skeletal SR was 30‐fold greater than their effect on either cardiac Ca2+ release or on the Ca2+ Mg2+ ATPase. 6 A small and very low affinity effect of the peptide in slowing Ca2+ uptake by the Ca2+, Mg2+ ATPase was exacerbated by lipoamino acid conjugation in both isolated SR and in skinned EDL fibres. 7 The results show that lipoamino acid conjugation of A region peptides increases their membrane permeability without impairing their structure or efficacy in activating skeletal and cardiac RyRs.

Biological Diversity from a Structurally Diverse Library: Systematically Scanning Conformational Space Using a Pyranose Scaffold†

Success in discovering bioactive peptide mimetics is often limited by the difficulties in correctly transposing known binding elements of the active peptide onto a small and metabolically more stable scaffold while maintaining bioactivity. Here we describe a scanning approach using a library of pyranose-based peptidomimetics that is structurally diverse in a systematic manner, designed to cover all possible conformations of tripeptide motifs containing two aromatic groups and one positive charge. Structural diversity was achieved by efficient selection of various chemoforms, characterized by a choice of pyranose scaffold of defined chirality and substitution pattern. A systematic scanning library of 490 compounds was thus designed, produced, and screened in vitro for activity at the somatostatin (sst(1-5)) and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH(1)) receptors. Bioactive compounds were found for each target, with specific chemoform preferences identified in each case, which can be used to guide follow-on drug discovery projects without the need for scaffold hopping.

Lipophile-conjugated sulfated oligosaccharides as novel microbicides against HIV-1

With the aim of providing compounds suitable for further development as microbicides active against human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) a library containing 37 lipophile-conjugated sulfated oligosaccharides was screened for antiviral and virucidal activity against this virus. Four highly active compounds had low drug inhibition concentrations (IC(50)) for HIV-1 and inactivated viral particles, suggestive of virucidal properties. Two of these compounds comprising a sulfated tetrasaccharide linked to a cholestanol group by a glycosidic bond, showed low toxicity and high selectivity indices. The two compounds were active both against CCR5 and dual-tropic CCR5/CXCR4 clinical HIV-1 isolates. Since herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) may be a cofactor for HIV-1 infection, the virucidal effect of the compounds was demonstrated against both viruses when mixed and incubated together on permissive cells. Incubation of compounds with serum, and to a lesser degree, cervical secretions, reduced the HIV-1 inactivating capacity, which suggests the need for molecular modification to reduce host protein binding. Considering the virucidal effect and low toxicity, these sulfated oligosaccharides with lipophilic tails may offer new possibilities of microbicide development.

Synthesis of glycolipopeptidic building blocks for carbohydrate receptor discovery

A class of glycolipopeptides for use as building blocks for a new type of dynamic combinatorial library is reported. The members of the library consist of a variable carbohydrate moiety, coded amino acids, and lipoamino acids in order to convert them into amphiphiles. Glycolipopeptidic amphiphiles interact through non-covalent bonding when mixed together in aqueous phase and form micelles in dynamic close-packed fluid mosaic arrays. The head groups of amphiphiles are exposed on the micelle surface, providing entities which could be screened in biological assays to find the most potent combination of building blocks in order to identify new bioactive carbohydrate ligands.

A versatile synthetic approach toward diversity libraries using monosaccharide scaffolds

The pyranose scaffold is unique in its ability to position pharmacophore substituents in various ways in 3D space, and unique pharmacophore scanning libraries could be envisaged that focus on scanning topography rather than diversity in the type of substituents. Approaches have been described that make use of amine and acid functionalities on the pyranose scaffolds to append substituents, and this has enabled the generation of libraries of significant structural diversity. Our general aim was to generate libraries of pyranose-based drug-like mimetics, where the substituents are held close to the scaffold, in order to obtain molecules with better defined positions for the pharmacophore substituents. Here we describe the development of a versatile synthetic route toward peptide mimetics build on 2-amino pyranose scaffolds. The method allows introduction of a wide range of substituent types, it is regio- and stereospecific, and the later diversity steps are performed on solid phase. Further, the same process was applied on glucose and allose scaffolds, in the exemplified cases, and is likely adaptable to other pyranose building blocks. The methods developed in this work give access to molecules that position the three selected binding elements in various 3D orientations on a pyranose scaffold and have been applied for the production of a systematically diverse library of several hundred monosaccharide-based mimetics.