Low Incidence of Corticosteroid-associated Adverse Events on Long-term Exposure to Low-dose Prednisone Given with Abiraterone Acetate to Patients with Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer.

Background: Abiraterone acetate (AA) is the prodrug of abiraterone, which inhibits CYP17A1 and testosterone synthesis and prolongs the survival of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). AA plus prednisone (P) (AA+P) is approved for the treatment of patients with mCRPC.

Objective: To investigate whether long-term use of low-dose P with or without AA leads to corticosteroid-associated adverse events (CA-AEs) in mCRPC patients.

Single DNA molecule stretching in sudden mixed shear and elongational microflows.

High-throughput stretching and monitoring of single DNA molecules in continuous elongational flow offers compelling advantages for biotechnology applications such as DNA mapping. However, the polymer dynamics in common microfluidic implementations are typically complicated by shear interactions. These effects were investigated by observation of fluorescently labeled 185 kb bacterial artificial chromosomes in sudden mixed shear and elongational microflows generated in funneled microfluidic channels.

Ceftriaxone plus once daily aminoglycoside with filgrastim for treatment of febrile neutropenia: early hospital discharge vs. Standard In-patient care.

Background: In febrile neutropenic patients, ceftriaxone plus an aminoglycoside is effective for the treatment of infection, while filgrastim reduces the extent and duration of neutropenia. Because the once daily dosing regimen of this combination permits ambulatory treatment, there is a need to test criteria for early hospital discharge.

Methods: Hospitalized adult patients with febrile neutropenia (following chemotherapy) considered to be potentially treatable on a follow-up out-patient basis were entered into this open-label, multinational study.

Cloning and characterization of the rat and human phosducin-like protein genes: structure, expression and chromosomal localization.

We isolated and characterized the rat gene encoding phosducin-like protein (PhLP), a putative heterotrimeric G protein modulator. The transcription start site was mapped by primer extension. The putative promoter region lacked a TATA sequence but contained a potential initiator element.

Structure-based design of beta-lactamase inhibitors. 1. Synthesis and evaluation of bridged monobactams.

Bridged monobactams are novel, potent, mechanism-based inhibitors of class C beta-lactamases, designed using X-ray crystal structures of the enzymes. They stabilize the acyl-enzyme intermediate by blocking access of water to the enzyme-inhibitor ester bond. Bridged monobactams are selective class C beta-lactamase inhibitors, with half-inhibition constants as low as 10 nM, and are less effective against class A and class B enzymes (half-inhibition constants > 100 microM) because of the different hydrolysis mechanisms in these classes of beta-lactamases.

Once daily ceftriaxone plus amikacin vs. three times daily ceftazidime plus amikacin for treatment of febrile neutropenic children with cancer. Writing Committee for the International Collaboration on Antimicrobial Treatment of Febrile Neutropenia in Children.

Background: The combination of ceftazidime plus aminoglycoside is widely used for the treatment of febrile neutropenic patients but requires multiple daily administration. Because the frequency of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is low in many centers, there is a rationale to test other antibiotic regimens that provide appropriate antibacterial coverage with the advantage of reduced dosing frequency, such as once daily ceftriaxone plus amikacin.

Methods: Febrile neutropenic children with leukemia, lymphoma or solid tumors after chemotherapy were included in an open, prospective, randomized, multinational study comparing once daily ceftriaxone plus amikacin vs.

Orally active 2-(alkyloxycarbonyl)-2-alkylideneethyl esters of cephalosporins.

2-(Alkyloxycarbonyl)-2-alkylideneethyl esters of various aminothiazole-oxyimino cephalosporins have been synthesized and studied. They are useful alternatives to the currently existing orally active esters. Among the new esters synthesized, the 3'-azidomethyl cephem ester Ro 41-3399 (7k) presented an oral bioavailability superior to the corresponding pivaloyloxymethyl ester (9) in a rat model and was selected as a candidate for further evaluation.

Refined crystal structure of beta-lactamase from Citrobacter freundii indicates a mechanism for beta-lactam hydrolysis.

Beta-Lactamases (EC 3.5.2.

Biochemical characterization of type A and type B beta-lactamase from Enterobacter cloacae.

Different types of chromosomally coded beta-lactamases are found in Enterobacter cloacae. E. cloacae M6300 produces beta-lactamase type A, which has an isoelectric point of 8.

Mechanism of inhibition of chromosomal beta-lactamases by third-generation cephalosporins.

The kinetic interactions of the beta-lactamase from Enterobacter cloacae 908 R with ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, and ceftazidime have been examined in detail. With all of these cephalosporins, there is an initial rapid reaction involving opening of the beta-lactam that then decreases to a slower steady-state rate (kss) of beta-lactam hydrolysis (at 37 degrees C: ceftriaxone, kss = 0.044 s-1; cefotaxime, kss = 0.

Contribution of beta-lactamase hydrolysis and outer membrane permeability to ceftriaxone resistance in Enterobacter cloacae.

Mechanisms of ceftriaxone resistance were examined in Enterobacter cloacae. Clones were selected from four strains: susceptible (S), resistant (R1), selected by plating on ceftriaxone-containing agar, and highly resistant (R2), selected in ceftriaxone-treated mice infected with S clones. According to 14C-labeled beta-lactam binding assays, ceftriaxone resistance was not associated with altered target proteins.

Poly(deoxyadenylic-deoxythymidylic acid) damage by radiolytically activated neocarzinostatin.

The anaerobic reaction of poly(deoxyadenylic-deoxythymidylic acid) with neocarzinostatin activated by the carboxyl radical CO2-, an electron donor generated from gamma-ray radiolysis of nitrous oxide saturated formate buffer, has been characterized. DNA damage includes base release and strand breaks. Few strand breaks are formed prior to alkaline treatment; they bear 3'-phosphoryl termini.

Neocarzinostatin abstracts a hydrogen during formation of nucleotide 5'-aldehyde on DNA.

The oxidative reaction of polydeoxyadenylic-deoxythymidylic acid [poly(dA-dT)] with neocarzinostatin that produces 5'-thymidine aldehyde esterified to the 5'-end of strand breaks proceeds with hydrogen abstraction. The abstracted hydrogen is covalently bound to the non-protein component of neocarzinostatin; only a small amount (5%) is washed out into solvent. These data rule out a peroxyl radical as the primary DNA damaging species involved in the production of the 5'-aldehyde group.

Inactivation of RTEM beta-lactamase from Escherichia coli by clavulanic acid and 9-deoxyclavulanic acid.

The interaction of the TEM-2 beta-lactamase with 9-deoxyclavulanic acid (3) and with both extensively labeled (2) and specifically labeled (1) clavulanic acid has been studied. The close similarity between 9-doexyclavulanate and clavulanate in kinetics, spectroscopic, and protein chemical terms show that the allyl alcohol group of clavulanate is irrelevant to its action as a beta-lactamase inactivator. Use of the radiolabeled samples of clavulanate shows that, of three irreversibly inactivated forms of the enzymes, two contain the whole clavulanate skeleton and the third only retains the carbon atoms of the original beta-lactam ring.

Inhibition of the RTEM beta-lactamase from Escherichia coli. Interaction of enzyme with derivatives of olivanic acid.

The interaction of the RTEM beta-lactamase with two derivatives of olivanic acid has been studied. The compound MM22382 (1) behaves simply as a good substrate for the enzyme and is a relatively ineffective inhibitor. In contrast, the sulfate ester MM13902 (2) is a poor substrate and an excellent inhibitor of the enzyme.

Inactivation of the RTEM beta-lactamase from Escherichia coli. Interaction of penam sulfones with enzyme.

The characteristics of the reaction of a number of mechanism-based inactivators of the RTEM beta-lactamase have suggested that a common mechanistic pathway may be followed by many of these compounds. These ideas have been tested by the synthesis and evaluation of some penam sulfones as beta-lactamase inactivators. The sulfones of poor beta-lactamase substrates are, as predicted, potent inactivators of the enzyme.

Beta-lactamase inactivation by mechanism-based reagents.

The mechanistic pathway followed by the E. coli RTEM beta-lactamase has been studied with a view to clarifying the mode of action of a number of recently discovered inactivators of the enzyme. There is clear evidence that the beta-lactamase-catalysed hydrolysis of the 7-alpha-methoxycephem, cefoxitin, proceeds via an acyl-enzyme intermediate.

Chemical studies on the inactivation of Escherichia coli RTEM beta-lactamase by clavulanic acid.

Incubation of clavulanic acid with the beta-lactamase from Escherichia coli RTEM leads to enzyme-catalyzed depletion of clavulanic acid, to transient inhibition, and to irreversible inactivation of the enzyme. Both the transiently inhibited and the irreversibly inactivated species show a marked increase in the absorbance at 281 nm that is proportional to the decrease in enzyme activity. Hydroxylamine treatment of irreversibly inactivated enzyme restores about one-third of the catalytic activity, with a concomitant decrease in absorbance at 281 nm.

Kinetic studies on the inactivation of Escherichia coli RTEM beta-lactamase by clavulanic acid.

The kinetic details of the irreversible inactivation of the Escherichia coli RTEM beta-lactamase by clavulanic acid have been elucidated. Clavulanate is destroyed by the enzyme and simultaneously inhibits it by producing two catalytically inactive forms. One of these is transiently stable and decomposes to free enzyme (k = 3.