The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant strains of the human pathological bacteria are generating a threat to public health worldwide. In the current study, a series of PC190723 derivatives was synthesized and investigated for their antimicrobial activity. The compounds exhibited good activity against several Gram-positive bacteria as determined by comparison of diameters of the zone of inhibition of test compounds and standard antibiotics. Compound 9 with a fluorine substitution on the phenyl ring showed the best antibacterial activity in the series against M. smegmatis with the zone ratio of 0.62, and against S. aureus with the zone ratio of 0.44. The results from this study indicate that based on the unique 3-methoxybenzamide pharmacophore, compound 9 may represent a promising lead candidate against Gram-positive bacteria that are worthy of further investigationDownload high-res image (52KB)Download full-size image

Bifunctional chelators play an important role in developing metallic radionuclide-based radiopharmaceuticals. In this study, a new bifunctional ligand, p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA, was synthesized and conjugated to a very late antigen-4 targeting peptidomimetic, LLP2A, for evaluating its application in 64Cu-based positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. The new ligand exhibited strong selective coordination of Cu(II), leading to a robust Cu complex, even in the presence of 10-fold Fe(III). The LLP2A conjugate of p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA was prepared and successfully labeled with 64Cu under mild conditions. The conjugate 64Cu-NE3TA-PEG4-LLP2A showed significantly higher specific activity, compared with 64Cu-NOTA-PEG4-LLP2A, while maintaining comparable serum stability. Subsequent biodistribution studies and PET imaging in mice bearing B16F10 xenografts confirmed its favorable in vivo performance and high tumor uptake with low background, rendering p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA a promising bifunctional chelator for 64Cu-based radiopharmaceuticals.

The antitumor efficacy of ursolic acid (UA) was limited by poor hydrophilicity and low bioavailability. To overcome this issue, UA was encapsulated in liposomes modified with folate conjugates for better solubility and bioavailability. This novel agent was prepared by a thin-film dispersion method and characterized by mean diameter, zeta potential, and entrapment efficiency (160.1 nm, −21.2 mV, and 88.9%, respectively). In vitro, cellular uptake efficiency, cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and cell cycle analyses were performed to show that folate-receptor (FR) positive cells endocytose more FR-targeted liposome (FTL-UA) than nontargeted PEGylated liposome (PL-UA) and that FTL-UA induced more cytotoxicity and higher apoptosis than PL-UA. Pharmacokinetic assessments showed advantages of systemic bioavailability of FTL-UA (AUC = 218.32 mg/L·h, t1/2 = 7.61 h) over free UA (AUC = 36.88 mg/L·h, t1/2 = 0.78 h). In vivo, FTL-UA showed significantly higher human epidermoid carcinoma (KB) inhibition in Balb/c nu/nu mice compared to PL-UA or free UA. The results indicate the great potential of FTL-UA against KB tumor.