Publications by authors named "Florian L Muller"

Tumor angiogenesis is a cancer hallmark, and its therapeutic inhibition has provided meaningful, albeit limited, clinical benefit. While anti-angiogenesis inhibitors deprive the tumor of oxygen and essential nutrients, cancer cells activate metabolic adaptations to diminish therapeutic response. Despite these adaptations, angiogenesis inhibition incurs extensive metabolic stress, prompting us to consider such metabolic stress as an to therapies targeting cancer metabolism.

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Metabolic networks are interconnected and influence diverse cellular processes. The protein-metabolite interactions that mediate these networks are frequently low affinity and challenging to systematically discover. We developed mass spectrometry integrated with equilibrium dialysis for the discovery of allostery systematically (MIDAS) to identify such interactions.

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Metabolically labile prodrugs can experience stark differences in catabolism incurred by the chosen route of administration. This is especially true for phosph(on)ate prodrugs, in which successive promoiety removal transforms a lipophilic molecule into increasingly polar compounds. We previously described a phosphonate inhibitor of enolase (HEX) and its bis-pivaloyloxymethyl ester prodrug (POMHEX) capable of eliciting strong tumor regression in a murine model of enolase 1 ()-deleted glioblastoma following parenteral administration.

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Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a fatal disease of cats that currently lacks licensed and affordable vaccines or antiviral therapeutics. The disease has a spectrum of clinical presentations including an effusive ("wet") form and non-effusive ("dry") form, both of which may be complicated by neurologic or ocular involvement. The feline coronavirus (FCoV) biotype, termed feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV), is the etiologic agent of FIP.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cancers with a specific enzyme deletion (ENO1) are sensitive to treatment targeting a related enzyme (ENO2).
  • Previous studies showed promise with a specific inhibitor (HEX) that can shrink tumors in certain models of glioblastoma.
  • This research aimed to find better prodrug options (forms that release the active drug) for ENO2 inhibition, assessing different types that could be more effective and stable in the bloodstream.
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The phosphonate group is a key pharmacophore in many antiviral, antimicrobial, and antineoplastic drugs. Due to its high polarity and short retention time, detecting and quantifying such phosphonate-containing drugs with LC/MS-based methods are challenging and require derivatization with hazardous reagents. Given the emerging importance of phosphonate-containing drugs, developing a practical, accessible, and safe method for their quantitation in pharmacokinetics (PK) studies is desirable.

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Glycolysis controls cellular energy, redox balance, and biosynthesis. Antiglycolytic therapies are under investigation for treatment of obesity, cancer, aging, autoimmunity, and microbial diseases. Interrupting glycolysis is highly valued as a therapeutic strategy, because glycolytic disruption is generally tolerated in mammals.

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Carboxy ester prodrugs are widely employed to increase oral absorption and potency of phosphonate antibiotics. Prodrugging can mask problematic chemical features that prevent cellular uptake and may enable tissue-specific compound delivery. However, many carboxy ester promoieties are rapidly hydrolyzed by serum esterases, limiting their therapeutic potential.

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Remdesivir is a nucleoside monophosphoramidate prodrug that has been FDA approved for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the clinical efficacy of remdesivir for COVID-19 remains contentious, as several trials have not found statistically significant differences in either time to clinical improvement or mortality between remdesivir-treated and control groups. Similarly, the inability of remdesivir to provide a clinically significant benefit above other investigational agents in patients with Ebola contrasts with strong, curative preclinical data generated in rhesus macaque models.

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Homozygous deletion of methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) in cancers such as glioblastoma represents a potentially targetable vulnerability. Homozygous MTAP-deleted cell lines in culture show elevation of MTAP's substrate metabolite, methylthioadenosine (MTA). High levels of MTA inhibit protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), which sensitizes MTAP-deleted cells to PRMT5 and methionine adenosyltransferase 2A (MAT2A) inhibition.

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Despite being FDA-approved for COVID-19, the clinical efficacy of remdesivir (Veklury) remains contentious. We previously pointed out pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and toxicology reasons for why its parent nucleoside GS-441524, is better suited for COVID-19 treatment. Here, we assess the oral bioavailability of GS-441524 in beagle dogs and show that plasma concentrations ~24-fold higher than the EC against SARS-CoV-2 are easily and safely sustained.

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Inhibiting glycolysis remains an aspirational approach for the treatment of cancer. We have previously identified a subset of cancers harbouring homozygous deletion of the glycolytic enzyme enolase (ENO1) that have exceptional sensitivity to inhibition of its redundant paralogue, ENO2, through a therapeutic strategy known as collateral lethality. Here, we show that a small-molecule enolase inhibitor, POMHEX, can selectively kill ENO1-deleted glioma cells at low-nanomolar concentrations and eradicate intracranial orthotopic ENO1-deleted tumours in mice at doses well-tolerated in non-human primates.

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Phosphate and phosphonates containing a single PN bond are frequently used pro-drug motifs to improve cell permeability of these otherwise anionic moieties. Upon entry into the cell, the PN bond is cleaved by phosphoramidases to release the active agent. Here, we apply a novel mono-amidation strategy to our laboratory's phosphonate-containing glycolysis inhibitor and show that a diverse panel of phosphonoamidates may be rapidly generated for in vitro screening.

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With the rising prevalence of multidrug resistance, there is an urgent need to develop novel antibiotics. Many putative antibiotics demonstrate promising potency but fail due to poor drug-like qualities (e.g.

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Glycolysis inhibition remains aspirational in cancer therapy. We recently described a promising phosphonate inhibitor of enolase for cancers harboring homozygous deletions of . Here, we describe the application of a nitroheterocycle phosphonoamidate pro-drug pair to capitalize on tumor hypoxia.

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While remdesivir has garnered much hope for its moderate anti-Covid-19 effects, its parent nucleoside, GS-441524, has been overlooked. Pharmacokinetic analysis of remdesivir evidences premature serum hydrolysis to GS-441524; GS-441524 is the predominant metabolite reaching the lungs. With its synthetic simplicity and efficacy in the veterinary setting, we contend that GS-441524 is superior to remdesivir for Covid-19 treatment.

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Magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy has potential to non-invasively detect metabolites of diagnostic significance for precision oncology. Yet, many metabolites have similar chemical shifts, yielding highly convoluted H spectra of intact biological material and limiting diagnostic utility. Here, we show that hydrogen-carbon heteronuclear single quantum correlation (H-C HSQC) offers dramatic improvements in sensitivity compared to one-dimensional (1D) C NMR and significant signal deconvolution compared to 1D H spectra in intact biological settings.

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Chemotherapy is central to oncology, perceived to operate only on prolific cancerous tissue. Yet, many non-neoplastic tissues are more prolific compared with typical tumors. Chemotherapies achieve sufficient therapeutic windows to exert antineoplastic activity because they are prodrugs that are bioactivated in cancer-specific environments.

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The maintenance of skeletal muscle mass depends on the overall balance between the rates of protein synthesis and degradation. Thus, age-related muscle atrophy and function, commonly known as sarcopenia, may result from decreased protein synthesis, increased proteolysis, or simultaneous changes in both processes governed by complex multifactorial mechanisms. Growing evidence implicates oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS) as an essential regulator of proteolysis.

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