COVID-19 site readiness initiative: Building clinical trial capacity for vaccine efficacy trials in Latin America in response to the pandemic.

According to the World Health Organization, the American region has the highest coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths since the start of the pandemic. This humanitarian tragedy presented the possibility of generating efficacy data from COVID-19 vaccine trials. The race to develop successful vaccines imposed a high demand for trained healthcare personnel and clinical sites where large scale randomized clinical trials could be conducted.

Degradation-promoters of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 based on bestatin and actinonin.

A series of hybrid compounds of bestatin (1) and actinonin (3), which promote degradation of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (cIAP1), were designed and synthesized. Structure-activity relationship studies indicated that absolute configuration, hydrophobicity at the alpha-position of the internal amide carbonyl group, and the presence of a small substituent at the alpha-position of the ester group are important factors for the expression of potent cIAP1 degradation-promoting activity. HAB-5A (30b) showed the most potent activity (IC(50)=0.

Small molecules destabilize cIAP1 by activating auto-ubiquitylation.

Overexpression of an anti-apoptotic protein cIAP1 caused by its genetic amplification was reported in certain cancers, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, and lung cancer, which confers resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Here we report cIAP1 to be selectively down-regulated by a class of small molecules ((-)-N-[(2S,3R)-3-amino-2-hydroxy-4-phenyl-butyryl]-l-leucine methyl ester (ME-BS)), resulting in a sensitization of cancer cells to apoptosis. ME-BS directly interacts with the BIR3 domain of cIAP1, promotes auto-ubiquitylation dependent on its RING domain, and facilitates proteasomal degradation of cIAP1.

A derivative of aminopeptidase inhibitor (BE15) has a dual inhibitory effect of invasion and motility on tumor and endothelial cells.

Bestatin is an inhibitor of aminopeptidase N (APN)/CD13 and aminopeptidase B. In our previous report, bestatin inhibited the tumor cell invasion and the angiogenesis induced by the inoculation of B16-BL6 melanoma cells into mice and capillary formation on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. The results show that the enzymatic activity of APN is deeply involved in tumor invasion and angiogenesis.

Aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13) is selectively expressed in vascular endothelial cells and plays multiple roles in angiogenesis.

Proteolytic enzyme-mediated degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is crucial for the formation of both tumor metastasis and angiogenesis. Recently, several reports have suggested that aminopeptidases are involved in this process, but precisely how is largely unknown. We found here that aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13) was selectively expressed in vascular endothelial cells including human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC), and was not detectable in a majority of normal cells and tumor cell lines we examined.

HtrA2 cleaves Apollon and induces cell death by IAP-binding motif in Apollon-deficient cells.

Apollon/BRUCE is a giant IAP protein that has BIR and UBC domains in its amino- and carboxy-terminals, respectively. Apollon binds and ubiquitylates SMAC/DIABLO and caspase9, and regulates apoptosis by facilitating proteasomal degradation of these proteins. Apollon overexpression inhibits apoptosis, while its downregulation sensitizes cells to apoptosis, suggesting that Apollon level is important for apoptosis regulation.

Apollon ubiquitinates SMAC and caspase-9, and has an essential cytoprotection function.

Apollon (also known as BRUCE or BIRC6) is a large protein containing baculoviral-IAP-repeat (BIR) and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (UBC) domains at the amino- and carboxy termini, respectively. Apollon inhibits apoptosis, but its molecular and physiological function remains unclear. Here we report that Apollon binds to, ubiquitinates and facilitates proteasomal degradation of SMAC and caspase-9, which both contain IAP-binding motifs.