Pulmonary administration of a doxorubicin-conjugated dendrimer enhances drug exposure to lung metastases and improves cancer therapy.

Direct administration of chemotherapeutic drugs to the lungs significantly enhances drug exposure to lung resident cancers and may improve chemotherapy when compared to intravenous administration. Direct inhalation of uncomplexed or unencapsulated cytotoxic drugs, however, leads to bolus release and unacceptable lung toxicity. Here, we explored the utility of a 56kDa PEGylated polylysine dendrimer, conjugated to doxorubicin, to promote the controlled and prolonged exposure of lung-resident cancers to cytotoxic drug.

Small molecule inhibitors of the LEDGF site of human immunodeficiency virus integrase identified by fragment screening and structure based design.

A fragment-based screen against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) integrase led to a number of compounds that bound to the lens epithelium derived growth factor (LEDGF) binding site of the integrase catalytic core domain. We determined the crystallographic structures of complexes of the HIV integrase catalytic core domain for 10 of these compounds and quantitated the binding by surface plasmon resonance. We demonstrate that the compounds inhibit the interaction of LEDGF with HIV integrase in a proximity AlphaScreen assay, an assay for the LEDGF enhancement of HIV integrase strand transfer and in a cell based assay.

Structural basis for a new mechanism of inhibition of HIV-1 integrase identified by fragment screening and structure-based design.

Background: HIV-1 integrase is a clinically validated therapeutic target for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, with one approved therapeutic currently on the market. This enzyme represents an attractive target for the development of new inhibitors to HIV-1 that are effective against the current resistance mutations.

Methods: A fragment-based screening method employing surface plasmon resonance and NMR was initially used to detect interactions between integrase and fragments.

Design of a series of bicyclic HIV-1 integrase inhibitors. Part 2: azoles: effective metal chelators.

Synthesis of a diverse set of azoles and their utilizations as an amide isostere in the design of HIV integrase inhibitors is described. The Letter identified thiazole, oxazole, and imidazole as the most promising heterocycles. Initial SAR studies indicated that these novel series of integrase inhibitors are amenable to lead optimization.

Design of a series of bicyclic HIV-1 integrase inhibitors. Part 1: selection of the scaffold.

HIV integrase inhibitors based on a novel bicyclic pyrimidinone core is presented. Nine variations of the core scaffold are evaluated leading to optimization of the 6:6 core giving compound 48 with an EC(50) of 3 nM against wild type HIV infected T-cells.