Browsing by discipline "Biopharmacy"

MRP2 is an efflux-transporter from the group of ABC-transporters located in the apical side of cell membranes mainly in the liver, intestine, kidneys and lungs. This transporter is associated with multidrug resistance, a phenomenon where the absorption of a drug to the cell is prevented by the transporter as it transports the compound out of the cell. To overcome this phenomenon, inhibitors and substrates for MRP2 are constantly studied. Several flavonoids have been presented of being inhibitors and the research of these compounds continues. Pharmaceutical excipients are also another major group of compounds that possess inhibitory effects towards MRP2. Excipients, as well as flavonoids, are an increasingly studied section of drug interactions and today it may be evaluated that excipients are not thought as inert compounds as has been presented for several years. For now the research of MRP2 interactions focuses mainly on in vitro studies. In the experimental part of this thesis the effects of natural compounds and pharmaceutical excipients are studied towards MRP2 with the vesicular transport assay (VT-assay) with MRP2- Spodoptera frugiperda 9 (Sf9)-membrane vesicles using 5(6)-carboxy-2,'7'-dichlorofluorescein (CDCF) as probe. A total of 157 compounds are screened using this in vitro method and hits are further experimented studying IC50 and Ki values. Potential compounds are also tested with two types of particle size measurements (Dynamic light scattering and nephelometer) to evaluate inhibition caused by microaggregates. Some compounds are also studied with liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to determine possible substrates for MRP2. 19 (12%) hits were found from the library of 157 compounds. These hits included 6 stimulators (CDCF transport increased ≥ 150%) and 13 inhibitors (CDCF transport decreased ≤ 50%). IC50 determination was conducted for 12 inhibitors with best-fit values of: Ellagic acid 10.4 µM, gossypin 17.4 µM, morin dihydrate 19.4 µM, myricetin 27.1 µM, nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) 36.2 µM, octyl gallate 20.3 µM, silybin 52.3 µM, pluronic ®F98 6.9 µM, lutrol F127 ~ 8.2 µM and tannic acid 1.99 µM. Ki determination was conducted for 3 compounds where best-fit values were myricetin 42.9 ± 47.4 µM, gossypin 19.4 ± 12.5 µM and tannic acid 0.0538 ± 0.0398 µM. Ki determination allowed determination of inhibition type: competitive inhibition for tannic acid and gossypin, noncompetitive inhibition for myricetin. Particle sizes studied with dynamic light scattering (DLS) and a nephelometer did not show any significant aggregate formation and inhibition by that mechanism can be ruled out granted that the measurement method should be optimised. Stimulators baicalein, baicalin, digitoxigenin and inhibitors myricetin, gossypin and tannic acid were studied finally with the VT-assay with LC-MS as detector in search of substrates for MRP2. With significant changes in ‚àíATP and +ATP at 50 µM was gossypin. To conclude, gossypin possesses competitive inhibition towards MRP2 and exhibits sings of being a substrate for the transporter as well. Further studies need to be performed to confirm these findings.

Even though cancer treatment modalities have improved during last decades, there is still lack of specific, efficient and curative treatments especially in case of advanced and metastatic cancers. One relatively new approach is to use oncolytic adenoviruses, which selectively infect and kill cancerous cells leaving healthy cells unharmed. These viruses have shown to be effective especially when administered intratumorally and in combination with chemotherapeutics. However this approach has multiple challenges like rapid clearance by antibody neutralization in systemic administration. Another challenge is the cell entry of oncolytic adenovirus, which is mainly mediated by the Coxsackie-Adenovirus receptor and this receptor is downregulated in various cancer cells. Rapid clearance and reduced cell entry thus lead to decreased amount of oncolytic adenovirus in target cells and decreased efficacy. In order to overcome these limitations, this study explored the possibility to use cancer cell derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) as drug delivery system for oncolytic adenovirus. Since oncolytic adenoviruses have shown to be effective especially in combination with chemotherapeutics, the ability of EVs to deliver both oncolytic adenoviruses and chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel was studied. The aims of this study were to i) study whether oncolytic adenoviruses could be encapsulated inside EVs (EV-virus complex) and load this complex with paclitaxel (EV-virus-PTX complex), ii) discover whether the surface charge or size distribution of EV-virus and EV-virus-PTX complexes differs from the control EVs and iii) study the infectivity/efficacy of EV-virus and EV-virus-PTX complex in comparison to noncapsulated adenovirus in vitro. Since this is a novel approach, the literature review focused on the characteristics, advantages and challenges of oncolytic adenoviruses and EVs. In order to determine whether cancerous cell are able to encapsulate oncolytic adenoviruses inside EVs, A549 lung cancer and PC-3 prostate cancer cells were infected with oncolytic adenovirus and the formed EVs were isolated form conditioned media using differential centrifugation. Paclitaxel was loaded into these EV-virus complexes with incubation. EV-virus complexes were imaged using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (i). The characteristics of these EV-virus and EV-virus-paclitaxel complexes were studied by determining the surface charge by electrophoretic light scattering and the size distribution by nanoparticle tracking analysis (ii). In order to determine the infectivity/efficacy of these complexes in autologous use, three in vitro level assays were performed (cell viability, immunocytochemistry and transduction assay) (iii). In addition confocal microscopy was used to observe the localization of EV-virus complexes inside the cell. These studies pointed out that both cell lines were able to encapsulate oncolytic adenovirus inside EVs, which was observed by TEM. The size distribution of these EV-virus and EV-virus-PTX complexes may support this observation and the size was in range 50-500 nm. In addition the determined surface charge was shown to be similar in EV-virus and EV-virus-PTX- complexes when compared to control EVs derived from noninfected cells - however more specific assays in order to characterize the surface properties of EV-virus complexes are needed. As a main finding, these EV-virus and EV-virus-PTX complexes were shown to significantly increase the efficacy of oncolytic adenovirus in comparison to free oncolytic adenovirus, paclitaxel and paclitaxel+virus combination in all three in vitro assays. In addition localization of the EV-virus complex was seen with confocal microscopy imaging. These results indicate that EVs may enhance the delivery of oncolytic adenovirus into cancerous cells. Using EVs as a drug delivery system for both oncolytic adenovirus and chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel was shown to increase the efficacy of oncolytic adenovirus in comparison to free virus. This characteristic could potentially enhance the targeting ability to cancerous cells and thus lead to decreased amount of side-effects of healthy tissues especially in case of chemotherapeutics. These promising results of this novel approach are however preliminary due to relatively low number of repetitions (n~3) and more research is needed especially in order to characterize, purify and concentrate the EV-virus complexes.

Pharmaceutical companies are currently facing increasing developmental costs, and at the same time, less new compounds are being brought to the market. In vitro -metabolism studies and toxicity assessment of new drug candidates are crucial, as early as possible, to prevent their withdrawal in later development phases. Used study systems are, however, limited and new improved technologies are being investigated. Notable, drug induced liver toxicity and alterations in the liver function are frequent reasons for the drug removals from the development. Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) is one of the most powerful cell types known. hESCs have not only the possibility to divide indefinitely but these cells have also the ability to differentiate to all mature cell types of the human body, such as hepatocytes. This makes them potentially very valuable for pharmaceutical development, in order to create a functional in vitro -model, mimicking the liver tissue. In the literature part, the three dimensional (3D) -hepatic differentiation of mouse and human ESCs in vitro, are discussed. Traditional 2D-culture systems do not adequately mimic the microenvironment of three dimensionally organized native tissue. In 2D-cultures cells grow as a monolayer, when the cell morphology is flattened leading to poor cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts and preventing from the tissue formation. In 3D-culture systems, cells are able to form tissue-like cell integrations, spheroids, and thus, remain their functionality and viability significantly longer. Hydrogels are commonly used biomaterials in 3D-cell cultivation and well known in various areas of tissue engineering for their nano scale porosity and ability to surround cells in 3D-polymer network. In addition, they are capable to absorb large volumes of water and functionalized, in various ways, to improve the required biological or mechanical properties. In the experimental part, the main purpose was to differentiate human hepatic progenitor cells to mature hepatocyte-like cells in three dimensional (3D) -biomaterials. Overall, four different hydrogels (cellulose nanofiber (CNF) hydrogel, HydroMatrixTM, ExtracelTM and PuraMatrixTM) were used as 3D-cell culture scaffolds. Several hepatic cell functions (albumin and urea production and cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 activity) were measured in 2D- and 3D-cultures and compared with the human hepatic carcinoma cells, HepG2, which are often used in drug development. Differentiated hepatocyte-like cells did not show CYP3A4 activity and they produced less albumin and urea compared with HepG2 cells. However, working with hESCs is very demanding and the research in this area is only in the beginning. Therefore, the poor cell functionality results did not come up as a surprise.

Many drugs are known to bind to melanin, a complex pigment polymer found in several human tissues. Melanin can act as a natural depot by prolonging the effect of the drug and reducing its toxicity. Since it is highly concentrated in the posterior part of the eye, pigment targeted long-acting drug delivery systems are proposed as an option in ocular diseases. In systemic drug delivery, pigment targeted drugs can potentially distribute to any melanin containing tissue. Therefore, the literature review of the thesis concentrates on the characteristics of melanin and melanosomes, drug binding property and melanin distribution in humans and other species. The main objective of the exploratory part was to determine if melanin binding can be studied with SPECT/CT (single photon emission computed tomography / computed tomography) imaging method. Two different melanin binding drugs, chloroquine and nadolol, were selected and labeled with iodine and radioactive iodine (123I). Equilibrium melanin binding of iodinated and non-iodinated drugs was studied in vitro in order to find out if iodination affects to the binding. Melanin binding was studied in vitro also with non-binding reference salicylic acid, I2-salicylic acid and salbutamol. Finally, melanin binding of 123I-choloroquine and 123I-nadolol was studied with SPECT/CT (NanoSPECT/CT, Bioscan Inc., USA) by comparing distribution kinetics between pigmented and albino rat. Drugs were administered intravenously to the tail vena and the distribution was followed in several time points, up to 24 h. Based on in vitro study, iodination increases melanin binding of hydrophilic drugs, nadolol and salicylic acid, significantly. In vivo study showed clear accumulation of 123I-chloroquine in the posterior eye of pigmented rats whereas it was absent from albino rat. Interestingly, 123I-nadolol accumulated in to the nasal cavity of pigmented rats. Aromatic iodination changes electronegative properties of compounds and raises their logP (octanol/water partition coefficient) value affecting to the melanin binding positively. Therefore the effect of the radiotracer to the physicochemical properties of the compound and melanin binding should be determined in vitro. This study showed that SPECT/CT imaging method can be used to study melanin binding in vivo. Because the method is semi-quantitative, also a quantitative method should be incorporated to the study in order to have more powerful data. Additional studies are required for statistical analysis.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a physical barrier between the blood and the brain. BBB restricts drugs transport from blood stream to the brain, which sets challenges in drug delivery to the brain. Nanoparticles can be utilized in drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). Nanoparticles are internalized via endocytosis. However it remains unknown which endocytic pathways are active in brain endothelial cells. The characterization of BBB cells would help light on the exact mechanism of nanoparticle delivery into the brain, which would enable the design of targeted nanoparticles to deliver drugs to the CNS. In present study we characterized human brain endothelial cells, hCMEC/D3, which are widely utilized as BBB in vitro model. As brain endothelial cells are polarized in vivo, the aim of the study was to demonstrate the cell polarization of hCMEC/D3 cells and to study the activity and functionality of different endocytic pathways as a function of cell polarization. The level of cell polarization in cells grown on transwell permeable supports was characterized at multiple timepoints with four different methods: transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) measurement, lucifer yellow permeability assay, alkaline phosphatase expression and ZO-1 expression. To characterize hCMEC/D3 cells for the presence of specific endocytic pathways, proteins involved into each pathway were selected. Expression of these proteins at mRNA level was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). For clathrin-mediated endocytosis, mRNA level of CHC protein was further correlated with the protein level of this protein, and the activity of clathrin-mediated endocytosis was analyzed by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). Our results showed that hCMEC/D3 cells are best polarized after growing on transwell permeable support for 7 days. At the later timepoints, the cell polarization started to decrease, probably due to multilayer formation. We concluded that measuring TEER alone is not a reliable method to determine polarization status of the cells. mRNA levels of endocytosis-related proteins did not change remarkably as a function of cell polarization. In case of clathrin-mediated endocytosis, there was lack of correlation between CHC mRNA and protein level, but good correlation between mRNA level and activity of the pathway.

The objective of the research was to study the effects of different polymers, sugars, and cell handlings on the viabilities of ARPE-19 and ARPE-19-SEAP-2-neo cells after freeze-drying. Also the residual moisture content of the freeze-dried samples and the amount of intracellular sugar after incubation in trehalose medium were measured. The mixtures used in the study contained different polymers (e.g. polyvinylpyrrolidone, alginate, polyethylene glycol) and sugars (sucrose, trehalose and mannitol). Some cells were incubated or heated in trehalose medium before freeze-drying in order to increase the amount of intracellular sugar. The aim of the heating was also to increase the heat shock protein formation in the cells. The samples were mainly freeze-dried in 24 well plates. The same freeze-drying parameters were used in all freeze-drying runs. The freeze-drying cycle lasted 38.5 hours (freezing 2.5 h, primary drying 32 h, and secondary drying 4 h). In the freezing stage the samples were froze to -40 °C and the freezing rate was 1 °C/minute. In the primary drying stage the shelf temperature was mainly -35 °C and the pressure was 150 mTorr. The viabilities of the samples after freeze-drying were determined by measuring the fluorescence after 3 and 6 hours from addition of the Alamar Blue indicator dye. The residual moisture contents were measured by thermogravimeter. According to the results, mixture containing glycerol (9%) and PEG 10 000 (18%) was the best lyoprotectant in the study (70% viability after 3 hours). However, the viability decreased significantly (24% viability) in the measurement after 6 hours. Similar viability decrease was observed among all lyoprotectant mixtures used in the study. Extracellular sugars rarely had positive effect on the viability results. The 12 days incubation in 150 mM trehalose medium before freeze-drying affected positively to the post freeze-drying viability. Shorter incubation time or heating did not induce the same effect. Intracellular sugar measurements revealed, that the amount of intracellular trehalose was multiple after 12 days of incubation in 150 mM trehalose medium compared to the cells that were not incubated. The residual moisture contents of the samples varied between 0-7%. The residual moisture content of the sample containing glycerol 9% and PEG 10 000 18% was 1,5%.

Oncolytic viruses have been extensively studied for the treatment of cancer. They are genetically engineered viruses, which are able to selectively infect and kill the cancer cells causing no harm to normal cells. Adenoviruses are the most commonly used viruses in the gene therapy field and their oncolytic variants are currently under evaluation in many clinical trials. The cell killing properties of oncolytic adenoviruses against the cancer cells have been known for a long time. In addition, it is known that they can activate immune system. To achieve more selective and effective antitumor effects several modifications of oncolytic adenoviruses have been studied. During my internship I worked on the development of a new cancer vaccine platform based on peptide-coated conditionally replicating adenovirus (PeptiCRAd). The PeptiCRAd technology consists of a serotype 5 adenoviruses which are coated with tumorderived peptides. The aim of the thesis was to evaluate the antitumor efficacy of the PeptiCRAd. The cytopathic effects of the PeptiCRAd were studied in vitro using human adenocarcinoma cell line, A549. In this experiment three different treatments were used to study the cytopathic effects of the PeptiCRAd and Ad5Δ24-CpG- virus or polyK-SIINFEKL- peptide alone. The cell viability was assayed using MTS reagent and quantified by spectrophotometer. The antitumor effects were also studied in vivo using immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice bearing B16-OVA melanoma tumors. Tumor-bearing mice were treated with Ad5Δ24-CpG- virus, SIINFEKL- peptide or the PeptiCRAd. To evaluate the antitumor effects, tumor volume was observed after the treatments. In this study, I show that PeptiCRAd and Ad5Δ24-CpG- virus both have oncolytic effects in vitro against A549 cells. In vitro Ad5Δ24-CpG- virus showed significantly better cytopathic effects at high concentration compared to PeptiCRAd. In vivo the PeptiCRAd showed strongest antitumor effect on the growth of established tumors. At the end of the experiment the volume of the tumor was significantly smallest in the PeptiCRAd group.

Cancer afflicts an ever-growing number of people globally each year. In part due to a complex pathophysiology where much is still unknown, the need for new cancer treatments has been persistent, fuelled further by the issue of treatment resistance. An emerging field holding much promise in oncology is immunotherapy, a subgroup of which is oncolytic virus treatments. These treatments utilize the inherent or acquired ability of certain viruses to selectively replicate in tumor cells to fight cancer. One of these viruses is the adenovirus. With these viruses it is possible to modulate the immune response e.g. through the expression of certain genes. The thesis focuses on genetically arming an oncolytic adenovirus in an effort to enhance treatment efficacy. The transgene of choice is the CD40 ligand (CD40L), a costimulatory molecule capable of aiding in the development of systemic antitumor immunity. Adenoviruses have previously been designed expressing the CD40L, however, a novel aspect was introduced with the design and incorporation of a soluble a form of the protein. The main aim of the study was the construction of four functional oncolytic adenoviruses, encoded with either the human or mouse variants of the two CD40L proteins (full-length and soluble). Successful completion required protocols for the cloning, bacterial colony screening, and primary virus production to be established. Insertion of the CD40L transgenes into the E3-gp19k region of the chosen Ad5Δ24 backbone was first attempted with the traditional approach of homologous recombination. The method that ultimately proved successful was a one-step Gibson Assembly® reaction. Screening the bacterial colonies with colony polymerase chain reaction, the potential CD40L positive clones underwent restriction analysis to affirm the presence of the transgene in the viral genome, as well as the retainment of critical elements. Two out of three recombined plasmids carrying the full-length CD40L proceeded to transfection and virus propagation in A549 cells, after which the presence of the adenovirus and CD40L expression was confirmed with immunostaining. Finally, a protocol was successfully established by the construction of one of the intended four viruses. The protocol entails all the main steps from cloning until primary virus production, additionally offering the option of applying it to the genetic arming of the Ad5Δ24 with other transgenes of interest. In terms of future perspectives for the project, following construction of the remaining viruses, the intentions are to validate transgene expression and functionality for all constructs, as well as compare the immunogenicity between the full-length and soluble CD40L. In the event of promising results, the project will hopefully proceed to in vivo studies.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have two unique properties: the self-renewal capacity and the broad developmental potential. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, but the current perception is that hESCs and hiPSCs complement rather than replace each other. New scientific problems and ethical challenges will arise because stem cell research is developing rapidly. The potential of hiPSC and hESC technologies in drug discovery is tremendous. The human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived cells have a potential to replace a part of the current preclinical toxicity and efficacy screening tests and to prevent misrouted drug development and use for lead optimization at phases before clinical trials. The hPSC-based disease models can also narrow the gap between traditional animal models and clinical trials. One major challenge is the differentiation process of hPSCs into cells of the relevant tissue. The recent study of our laboratory shows that the liver cell-deried acellular matrix (ACM) promotes the hepatic commitment of hESCs. To create chemically defined, xeno-free and feeder-free culture matrices for the differentiation of the hESCs into hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs), the ECM components of the ACM were characterized. The results suggest that the ACM contains fibronectin, laminins. After the characterization, the object was to identify which of the ECM proteins are essential and effective in the differentiation. A three-step differentiation protocol with differenent ECM protein solutions was used to produce HLCs. The hESCs were first induced into definitive endoderm (DE) cells. The DE cells were committed to the bipotential hepatic progenitors positive for HNF4α and AFP. Finally the progenitors were differentiated into HLCs. The mRNA expression of albumin, CK8, CK18, AAT, and BCRP was increased in HLCs. All the derived HLCs were albumin positive. The hESCderived HLCs showed hepatic morphology, cytoplasmic vacuole characteristics, and functional albumin secretion. The chemically defined matrices showed a supportive role in the differentiation of the hESCs into HLCs. This study establishes an efficient, chemically defined, xeno-free system to produce HLCs as a cell source for pharmaceutical and developmental studies.

Cells release different types of phospholipid bilayer-limited vesicles into the extracellular space. These are commonly referred to as extracellular vesicles (EVs). Exosomes (EXOs), ca 50-100 nm in diameter and microvesicles (MVs), ca 100-1000 nm in diameter, having different intracellular origin, are the two main subpopulations of EVs. EVs have been demonstrated to carry a range of proteins and nucleic acids subsequently delivered to recipient cells, making them attractive as drug delivery vehicles. Several mechanisms for the cellular uptake of EVs have been established. When a nanoparticle is introduced into blood plasma, plasma proteins are adsorbed to its surface, forming a protein corona. The formation of the corona is a dynamic process, governed by individual protein concentrations as well as their respective affinities for the surface. Proteins of the corona interact with surrounding cells, thus being able to influence the cellular uptake of the nanoparticle. In the current study, the uptake of PC-3-derived EVs into PC-3 cells was investigated. Moreover, the impact of a human blood plasma-derived protein corona on said uptake was assessed. EVs were isolated from collected PC-3 cell culture medium using differential centrifugation. Experiments were performed separately for MVs (20000xg EV-fraction) and EXOs (110000xg EVfraction). SDS-PAGE analysis revealed adsorption of plasma proteins to EVs, following their exposure to plasma. Prior to uptake experiments DiO-labelled EVs were either incubated or not incubated in plasma. Plasma incubation lasted overnight. PC-3 cells were then treated with either of the two EV-preparations. Following incubation, EV uptake was assessed using confocal microscopy by determining the percentage of positive fluorescent cells in cell cultures. Pre-study plasma incubation resulted in a reduced or unchanged uptake of MVs and in a reduced uptake of EXOs, when compared to their native counterparts. In conclusion, the plasma-derived protein corona was shown not to improve EV uptake. It is worth noting that the current study limits itself to the use of PC-3-derived EVs and PC-3 cells as recipient cells in uptake experiments.