作者:Federica Prati、Adele Goldman-Pinkovich、Federica Lizzi、Federica Belluti、Roni Koren、Dan Zilberstein、Maria Laura Bolognesi
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0107994
日期:——
The aim of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of targeting Leishmania transporters via appropriately designed chemical probes. Leishmania donovani, the parasite that causes visceral leishmaniasis, is auxotrophic for arginine and lysine and has specific transporters (LdAAP3 and LdAAP7) to import these nutrients. Probes 1–15 were originated by conjugating cytotoxic quinone fragments (II and III) with amino acids (i.e. arginine and lysine) by means of an amide linkage. The toxicity of the synthesized conjugates against Leishmania extracellular (promastigotes) and intracellular (amastigotes) forms was investigated, as well their inhibition of the relevant amino acid transporters. We observed that some conjugates indeed displayed toxicity against the parasites; in particular, 7 was identified as the most potent derivative (at concentrations of 1 µg/mL and 2.5 µg/mL residual cell viability was reduced to 15% and 48% in promastigotes and amastigotes, respectively). Notably, 6, while retaining the cytotoxic activity of quinone II, displayed no toxicity against mammalian THP1 cells. Transport assays indicated that the novel conjugates inhibited transport activity of lysine, arginine and proline transporters. Furthermore, our analyses suggested that the toxic conjugates might be translocated by the transporters into the cells. The non-toxic probes that inhibited transport competed with the natural substrates for binding to the transporters without being translocated. Thus, it is likely that 6, by exploiting amino acid transporters, can selectively deliver its toxic effects to Leishmania cells. This work provides the first evidence that amino acid transporters of the human pathogen Leishmania might be modulated by small molecules, and warrants their further investigation from drug discovery and chemical biology perspectives.
本研究的目的是探讨通过适当设计的化学探针靶向利什曼原虫转运蛋白的可行性。导致脏器利什曼病的寄生虫利什曼原虫(Leishmania donovani)对精氨酸和赖氨酸呈营养依赖,具有特定的转运蛋白(LdAAP3和LdAAP7)来摄取这些营养物质。探针1-15是通过酰胺连接将细胞毒性醌片段(II和III)与氨基酸(即精氨酸和赖氨酸)结合而制得的。我们研究了合成的结合物对利什曼原虫的细胞外(前鞭毛体)和细胞内(无鞭毛体)形式的毒性,以及它们对相关氨基酸转运蛋白的抑制作用。我们观察到某些结合物确实显示出对寄生虫的毒性;特别是,7被确定为最有效的衍生物(在1 µg/mL和2.5 µg/mL的浓度下,前鞭毛体和无鞭毛体的残留细胞活力分别降至15%和48%)。值得注意的是,6在保留醌II细胞毒活性的同时,对哺乳动物THP1细胞显示无毒性。转运实验表明,新型结合物抑制了赖氨酸、精氨酸和脯氨酸转运蛋白的转运活性。此外,分析结果表明,这些毒性结合物可能通过转运蛋白转位进入细胞。无毒探针通过与天然底物竞争结合转运蛋白而抑制转运,但未被转运。因此,6可能通过利用氨基酸转运蛋白,选择性地将其毒性作用传递至利什曼原虫细胞。这项工作提供了第一个证据,表明人类病原体利什曼原虫的氨基酸转运蛋白可能受到小分子的调节,值得进一步从药物发现和化学生物学的角度进行研究。