Cell-permeable, mitochondrial-targeted, peptide antioxidants
Journal Title: The AAPS Journal - Year 2006, Vol 8, Issue 2
Abstract
Cellular oxidative injury has been implicated in aging and a wide array of clinical disorders including ischemia-reperfusion injury; neurodegenerative diseases; diabetes; inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, and hepatitis; and drug-induced toxicity. However, available antioxidants have not proven to be particularly effective against many of these disorders. A possibility is that some of the antioxidants do not reach the relevant sites of free radical generation, especially if mitochondria are the primary source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The SS (Szeto-Schiller) peptide antioxidants represent a novel approach with targeted delivery of antioxidants to the inner mitochondrial membrane. The structural motif of these SS peptides centers on alternating aromatic residues and basic amino acids (aromatic-cationic peptides). These SS peptides can scavenge hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite and inhibit lipid peroxidation. Their antioxidant action can be attributed to the tyrosine or dimethyltyrosine residue. By reducing mitochondrial ROS, these peptides inhibit mitochondrial permeability transition and cytochromec release, thus preventing oxidant-induced cell death. Because these peptides concentrate >1000-fold in the inner mitochondrial membrane, they prevent oxidative cell death with EC50 in the nM range. Preclinical studies support their potential use for ischemia-reperfusion injury and neurodegenerative disorders. Although peptides have often been considered to be poor drug candidates, these small peptides have excellent “druggable” properties, making promising agents for many diseases with unment needs.
Authors and Affiliations
Hazel H. Szeto
Population-Based Mechanistic Prediction of Oral Drug Absorption
The bioavailability of drugs from oral formulations is influenced by many physiological factors including gastrointestinal fluid composition, pH and dynamics, transit and motility, and metabolism and transport, each of w...
Allometric scaling of xenobiotic clearance: Uncertainty versus universality
Statistical analysis and Monte Carlo simulation were used to characterize uncertainty in the allometric exponent (b) of xenobiotic clearance (CL). CL values for 115 xenobiotics were from published studies in which at lea...
Role of MRP4 and MRP5 in biology and chemotherapy
Nucleotide efflux (especially cyclic nucleotides) from a variety of mammalian tissues, bacteria, and lower eukaryotes has been studied for several decades. However, the molecular identity of these nucleotide efflux trans...
Understanding Pharmaceutical Quality by Design
This review further clarifies the concept of pharmaceutical quality by design (QbD) and describes its objectives. QbD elements include the following: (1) a quality target product profile (QTPP) that identifies the critic...
Erratum to: A Bioequivalence Approach for Generic Narrow Therapeutic Index Drugs: Evaluation of the Reference-Scaled Approach and Variability Comparison Criterion
The online version of the original article can be found at 10.1208/s12248-015-9753-5.