Patent Application: US-57977905-A

Abstract:
a method of potentiating the activity of a therapeutic drug , like a chemotherapeutic drug or an antibiotic , in a cell or tissue , by inhibiting the efflux capability of a multidrug transporter are disclosed . the method is useful in the treatment of a cancer by sensitizing tumor cells to a chemotherapeutic agent . compounds capable of inhibiting an efflux capability of a multidrug transporter also are disclosed .

Description:
because of their role in multidrug resistance of cancer , pgp and other abc transporters have been viewed mainly as targets for suppression . accordingly , a number of pgp inhibitors have been identified and tested ( 25 ). however , there is another potential practical application for pgp that involves the use of its natural detoxifying function . previous work indicated that among compounds identified for their ability to suppress p53 reporter activation in readout cells by doxorubicin ( dox ), modulators of multidrug transporters capable of enhancing their drug efflux power existed ( see fig1 ). this observation led to a new readout system allowing a systematic search for specific mdr transporter inhibitors . by screening a chemical library for compounds that protect cells from the pgp substrate adriamycin ( adr ), a series of small compounds that interfered with the accumulation of adr in mouse fibroblasts by enhancing efflux of adr was identified . the identified compounds also stimulated efflux of rhodamine 123 ( rho123 ), another substrate of multidrug transporters . stimulation of drug efflux was detectable in the cells expressing pgp , but not in their pgp - negative variants , and was completely reversible by the pgp inhibitors . a dramatic stimulation of pgp activity against adr and rho123 by the identified compounds was accompanied by suppression of pgp - mediated efflux of other substrates , such as taxol or hoechst 33342 , indicating that the compounds are modulators of substrate specificity of pgp . consistently , pgp modulators dramatically altered the pattern of cross resistance of pgp - expressing cells to different pgp substrates , i . e ., an increase in resistance to adr , daunorubicin , and etoposide was accompanied with cell sensitization to vinca alkaloids , gramicidin d , and taxol , with no effect on cell sensitivity to colchicine , actinomycin d , puromycin , and colcemid , as well as to several non - pgp substrates . the relative effect of pgp modulators against different substrates varied among the identified compounds that can be used as excellent tools for analyzing mechanisms of drug selectivity of pgp . importantly , the identified compounds belong to a new functional class , unlike “ classic ” inhibitors , such as verapamil , reserpine , and cyclosporine a , because they are not by themselves substrates for the transporters . these results allow addressing the problem of rational control over cell sensitivity to drugs and toxins by small molecules acting through a new mechanism of modulation of abc transporters . as a result , the effect of the identified compounds on drug sensitivity of cells of renal cell carcinoma ( rcc ), representing one of the most drug resistant types of cancer , was tested . it was found that several compounds were as active as verapamil in sensitizing rcc cells to taxol , but clearly acted through a different mechanism , causing no effect on sensitivity to doxorubicin . see fig2 , which illustrates the principle of the read out system . we hypothesized that a library of compounds sharing structural similarity with a new class of modulators of pgp might be enriched with modulators of abc transporters which could play important role in drug sensitivity of tumors . to test this hypothesis , the effect of various compounds belonging to this new class on other abc transporters was tested , and it was found that they are active against other members of the transporter family , as discussed herein for mrp1 . this allowed us to view this focused library as a valuable source of new compounds for modulating activity of a broad range of transmembrane pumps . another feature of the present invention is the discovery of a new approach for identifying abc transporter modulators by screening chemicals in cell - based readout system that can sense drug presence inside the cell by activating p53 - responsive construct . this approach was used to identify the present mrp1 inhibitors . in a search for small molecule inhibitors of mrp1 , a library of over 2 , 300 compounds , specifically designed around abc transport modulators was screened . a critical aspect of screening for small molecule inhibitors of a given gene target involves development of a “ read out ” system or assay for growth inhibition that must be determined on a gene - by - gene basis , and which depends on the nature of the candidate gene . fig1 - 3 illustrate the “ read out ” system utilized in the present invention . as a read out system for inhibitors of mrp1 , the highly drug resistant mcf7 / vp breast cancer cells ( 24 ), which have amplified and overexpressed mrp1 , but negligible pgp expression , were transfected with a p53 responsive reporter containing the lacz gene . the drug - sensitive parental mcf7 cells also were transfected with this construct . treatment of these latter cells with doxo rubicin ( dox ) led to the activation of the p53 way due to induction of dna damage by the cytotoxic agent , and in turn , marked induction of lacz . however , treatment of the mcf7 / vp lacz transfectant population resulted in negligible induction of lacz because the high levels of mrp1 present in these cells resulted in greatly reduced intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin , which in turn means that p53 was not activated . we , therefore , were interested in small molecule compounds that inhibit mrp1 in mcf7 / vp lacz cells , with such inhibitors being identified by a doxorubicin - induced activation of the reporter . functional screening was performed in 96 - well plates containing mcf - 7 / vp / lacz cells . a combination of doxorubicin and compounds from the library were added 24 hours after plating . after an additional 24 hours , the 3 - galactosidase substrate o - nitrophenyl - beta - d - galactopyranoside ( onpg ) was added prior to measuring color development at 405 nm . in this system , compounds that significantly inhibited or interfered with mrp - mediated efflux of doxorubicin provide a p53 - dependent expression of lacz , which is detectable as an enhanced yellow color by comparison with other wells . a number of controls were used , including wells with doxorubicin alone ( negative controls ), and , as positive controls , wells containing increasing concentrations of verapamil , a broad spectrum abc transporter inhibitor . following screening of the 2300 compound library , inhibitor compounds were identified by spectrophotometric quantitation of the intensity of color in each well . an example of the results obtained from one of these plates , containing two hits , is shown in fig3 . each of these compounds yielded higher induction of lacz than that observed with the highest concentration of verapamil ( i . e ., 20 μm ). the compounds also were tested in a p53 inhibitory assay using mcf7 wild - type cells and shown to be functioning by affecting mrp1 and not by directly activating a p53 response ( see fig4 ). com - pound no . 3h05 4d06 4d07 4e07 4e10 4e11 4g05 4h10 9c06 14c08 19b04 25e10 17a08 27g06 13a02 12e03 also useful in the methods of the present invention are prodrugs ; salts , and hydrates of the above compounds , and mixtures of these compounds . more particularly , fig3 illustrates the identification of potential small molecule inhibitors of mrp1 . mcf7 / vp cells containing the lacz reporter were treated with doxorubicin ( 0 . 5 μg / ml ) in the presence of library compounds . lacz induction , indicating reduced mrp activity , was detected by increased onpg staining . fig3 ( a ) is a scan of one of the 96 - well plates showing two “ hits ” ( arrowed ). in fig3 ( b )., a quantitative read out of onpg staining is provided , with each column ( 2 - 11 ) showing the results obtained for 8 individual test compounds ( 8 × 10 = 80 compounds ), corresponding to columns 2 - 11 on the microtitre plate shown in panel a . the positive control column displays the results obtained with an increasing concentration of verapamil 2 . 5 μm ; 5 μm ; 10 μm ; and 20 μm ), while the negative controls are wells containing varying concentrations of doxorubicin alone . the two hits had values that were above the value of the 20 μm verapamil control . fig4 shows that identified compounds can sensitize mrp1 - expressing cells ( mcf7 / vp , clone 14 ), but not original cell line ( mcf7 ), to vincristine . cells in 96 - well plates ( 5 × 10 3 per well ) were incubated with different concentrations of vincristine in the presence of 5 μm of the candidate compounds for 3 days . cell numbers then were estimated using methylene blue assay . curves show vincristine dose dependence of cell number per well in relation to the number of cells growing in drug - free conditions . verapamil ( 10 μm ) was used as control . similar results were obtained with doxorubicin . fig5 contains a classification of the identified compounds using a drug accumulation assay . cells expressing mrp1 were incubated with the indicated concentrations of daunorubicin for 2 hours and cell fluorescence was measured by facs . as control , original mcf7 cells low expression of mrp1 ) were used . verapamil was used for comparison . the majority of hits ( primary ) were weaker than verapamil , while many of hits ( second ary ) are more potent than verapamil . fig6 illustrates the effect of the identified inhibitor compounds on cell sensitivity to doxorubicin and vincristine . cells ( with or without mrp1 expression ) were incubated 24 hours with the indicated concentrations of vincristine or doxorubicin followed by incubation for additional 48 hours in drugfree media . cell numbers were quantified by standard methylene blue assay . only a minor sensitizing effect was observed in the original mcf7 cells . many of the present compounds were found to be more potent inhibitors than verapamil . fig7 illustrates the effects of the identified inhibitor compounds on the sensitivity of mrp1 - positive and mrp1 - negative cells to doxorubicin . fold of sensitization is calculated as a ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). cell sensitivity with no transporter modulators and in the presence of verapamil are shown by dotted lines . fig8 illustrates the effects of the identified inhibitor compounds on sensitivity of mrp1 - positive and mrp1 - negative cells to vincristine . fold of sensitization again is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). cell sensitivity with no transporter modulators and in the presence of verapamil are shown by dotted lines . fig9 illustrates the effects of the identified inhibitor compounds on sensitivity of mrp1 - positive and mrp1 - negative cells to etoposide . fold of sensitization again is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). cell sensitivity with no transporter modulators and in the presence of verapamil are shown by dotted lines . fig1 illustrates the effects of the identified inhibitor compounds on sensitivity of mrp1 - positive and mrp1 - negative cells to taxol and cisplatin . fold of sensitization again is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). cell sensitivity with no transporter modulators and in the presence of verapamil are shown by dotted lines . lack of sensitizing effect is expected because neither taxol nor cisplatin are substrates of mrp1 . fig1 illustrates the effects of the identified inhibitor compounds on the sensitivity of cells expressing the indicated multidrug trans - porters to doxorubicin , which is known to be a substrate for each of these transporters . fold of sensitization again is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). cell sensitivity with no transporter modulators and in the presence of verapamil are shown by dotted lines . from the data in fig1 , it can be concluded that ( a ) the majority of the identified inhibitor compounds have an effect on more than one transporter ; ( b ) many of the compounds are more potent than verapamil ; and ( c ) some compounds exhibit a preferential effect against specific transporters . fig1 classifies the identified inhibitor compounds according to their strength as inhibitors of doxorubicin efflux by mrp1 . cells were treated with daunorubicin in the presence of a test compound or a control for 2 hours , followed by incubation in fresh drug - free medium for 1 hour . retained daunorubicin levels were measured to determine the effect of the inhibitor compounds on efflux activities . compound 4h10 was found to be the most potent inhibitor . fig1 classifies the identified inhibitor compounds according to their potency in dose - dependence experiments . no significant variations in this property were found . all identified inhibitor compounds reached a plateau in activity at about 1 to about 5 μm . fig1 summarizes a determination of dose dependence of drug , sensitization effect of compound 4h10 compared to the conventional mrp1 inhibitor mk571 . three different lots of 4h10 showed effects in submicromolar concentrations , and using this parameter are about 100 times more potent than mk571 . fig1 shows the effect of the identified inhibitor compounds on sensitivity of neuroblastoma cell lines to four chemotherapeutic drugs . fold of sensitization is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). strong sensitization to taxol , which is not an mrp1 substrate , indicates that these cells express transporters other than mrp1 . fig1 shows the effect of the identified inhibitor compounds on sensitivity of renal cell carcinoma lines to four chemotherapeutic drugs . fold of sensitization again is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the inhibitor compound ( see fig6 ). strong sensitization to taxol , which is not an mrp1 substrate , indicates that these cells express transporters other than mrp1 . fig1 shows the effect of the identified inhibitor compounds on sensitivity of colon carcinoma cell lines to four chemotherapeutic drugs . fold of sensitization again is calculated as the ratio of ld 50 in the presence and in the absence of the compound ( see fig6 ). from fig1 - 17 , it can be concluded that the identified inhibitor compounds strongly sensitize tumor cells of different origin to a variety of chemotherapeutic drugs . fig1 illustrates that no direct toxicity of different lots of compound 4h10 against nb cells is observed . fig1 shows a lack of in vivo toxicity of compound 4h10 ( up to 100 mg / kg ) after 30 days of observation following a single i . p . injection . in particular , one parameter for testing toxicity is a weight loss of greater the 100 of the body weight of a test mouse . compound 4h10 did not adversely affect mouse weight , as illustrated in fig1 . fig2 shows that compound 4h10 significantly increases the therapeutic effects of vp - 16 and vincristine , which are two mrp1 - transported chemotherapeutic agents . the therapeutic effects of cyclophosphamide , which is not transported by mrp1 , was not increased . the test was a clinically relevant mouse model of nb that closely reflects the human disease ( n = 10 , unless otherwise noted ). fig2 further shows the 4h10 is much more effective than bso , a compound that inhibits mrp1 function by depleting the cellular glutathione pools required for mrp1 transport function ( 8 , 9 , 26 , 27 ). 1 . r . v . kondratov et al ., proc natl acad sci usa , 98 : 14078 - 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