Susan E. Hill

Profiling degradants of paclitaxel using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry substructural techniques

A rapid and systematic strategy based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) profiling and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) substructural techniques was utilized to elucidate the degradation products of paclitaxel, the active ingredient in Taxol. This strategy integrates, in a single instrumental approach, analytical HPLC, UV detection, full-scan electrospray MS, and MS-MS to rapidly and accurately elucidate structures of impurities and degradants. In these studies, degradants induced by acid, base, peroxide, and light were profiled using LC-MS and LC-MS-MS methodologies resulting in an LC-MS degradant database which includes information on molecular structures, chromatographic behavior, molecular mass, and MS-MS substructural information. The stressing conditions which may cause drug degradation are utilized to validate the analytical monitoring methods and serve as predictive tools for future formulation and packaging studies. Degradation products formed upon exposure to basic conditions included baccatin III, paclitaxel sidechain methyl ester, 10-deacetylpaclitaxel, and 7-epipaclitaxel. Degradation products formed upon exposure to acidic conditions included 10-deacetylpaclitaxel and the oxetane ring opened product. Treatment with hydrogen peroxide produced only 10-deacetylpaclitaxel. Exposure to high intensity ligh produced a number of degradants. The most abundant photodegradant of paclitaxel corresponded to an isomer which contains a C3-C11 bridge. These methodologies are applicable at any stage of the drug product cycle from discovery through development. This library of paclitaxel degradants provides a foundation for future development work regarding product monitoring, as well as use as a diagnostic tool for new degradation products.

High-resolution solution structure of siamycin II: Novel amphipathic character of a 21-residue peptide that inhibits HIV fusion

SummaryThe 21-amino acid peptides siamycin II (BMY-29303) and siamycin I (BMY-29304), derived from Streptomyces strains AA3891 and AA6532, respectively, have been found to inhibit HIV-1 fusion and viral replication in cell culture. The primary sequence of siamycin II is CLGIGSCNDFAGCGYAIVCFW. Siamycin I differs by only one amino acid; it has a valine residue at position 4. In both peptides, disulfide bonds link Cys1 with Cys13 and Cys7 with Cys19, and the side chain of Asp9 forms an amide bond with the N-terminus. Siamycin II, when dissolved in a 50:50 mixture of DMSO and H2O, yields NOESY spectra with exceptional numbers of cross peaks for a peptide of this size. We have used 335 NOE distance constraints and 13 dihedral angle constraints to generate an ensemble of 30 siamycin II structures; these have average backbone atom and all heavy atom rmsd values to the mean coordinates of 0.24 and 0.52 Å, respectively. The peptide displays an unusual wedge-shaped structure, with one face being predominantly hydrophobic and the other being predominantly hydrophilic. Chemical shift and NOE data show that the siamycin I structure is essentially identical to siamycin II. These peptides may act by preventing oligomerization of the HIV transmembrane glycoprotein gp41, or by interfering with interactions between gp41 and the envelope glycoprotein gp120, the cell membrane or membrane-bound proteins [Frèchet, D. et al. (1994) Biochemistry, 33, 42–50]. The amphipathic nature of siamycin II and siamycin I suggests that a polar (or apolar) site on the target protein may be masked by the apolar (or polar) face of the peptide upon peptide/protein complexation.

Cellular uptake profile of paclitaxel using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

A new method for studying cellular uptake has been developed. This method is based on selected reaction monitoring liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis of preparations from cell culture. The limit of detection for paclitaxel was approximately 0.1 microM intracellular concentration. This method has been utilized to study the uptake of paclitaxel and an analog (BMS-190616) in normal and multidrug resistant (MDR) cell lines. Paclitaxel and the analog, that had been noted to overcome MDR in animal models, were incubated with normal cells (HCT116) and MDR cells (HCT116(VM)46) at therapeutic concentrations. Intracellular drug concentrations were assayed at intervals from 0 to 1.0 h. Results show that paclitaxel accumulates to a level 12 times greater and BMS-190616 to a level 5 times greater in the normal cells as compared to MDR cells suggesting that paclitaxel is more sensitive to MDR than the analog. Furthermore, the steady state level of BMS-190616 was 4 fold greater than paclitaxel in the MDR cell line suggesting that at least part of this compounds increased therapeutic effect can be attributed to processes of uptake and efflux at the cellular level. These data show that the method is rapid, sensitive and presents a unique advantage over traditional radioisotopic methods in that it can readily be employed on a range of analogs without any additional synthetic effort.

The photochemistry of taxol: Synthesis of a novel pentacyclic taxol isomer

Abstract Photolysis of taxol with 254 nm UV light is found to be a very effective method to prepare a novel taxol analog featuring a Carbon-Carbon bond between C 3 and C 11 .