A new SOD mimic, Mn(III) ortho N-butoxyethylpyridylporphyrin, combines superb potency and lipophilicity with low toxicity.

Abstract

The Mn porphyrins of k(cat)(O(2)(.-)) as high as that of a superoxide dismutase enzyme and of optimized lipophilicity have already been synthesized. Their exceptional in vivo potency is at least in part due to their ability to mimic the site and location of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase, MnSOD. MnTnHex-2-PyP(5+) is the most studied among lipophilic Mn porphyrins. It is of remarkable efficacy in animal models of oxidative stress injuries and particularly in central nervous system diseases. However, when used at high single and multiple doses it becomes toxic. The toxicity of MnTnHex-2-PyP(5+) has been in part attributed to its micellar properties, i.e., the presence of polar cationic nitrogens and hydrophobic alkyl chains. The replacement of a CH(2) group by an oxygen atom in each of the four alkyl chains was meant to disrupt the porphyrin micellar character. When such modification occurs at the end of long alkyl chains, the oxygens become heavily solvated, which leads to a significant drop in the lipophilicity of porphyrin. However, when the oxygen atoms are buried deeper within the long heptyl chains, their excessive solvation is precluded and the lipophilicity preserved. The presence of oxygens and the high lipophilicity bestow the exceptional chemical and physical properties to Mn(III) meso-tetrakis(N-n-butoxyethylpyridinium-2-yl)porphyrin, MnTnBuOE-2-PyP(5+). The high SOD-like activity is preserved and even enhanced: log k(cat)(O(2)(.-))=7.83 vs 7.48 and 7.65 for MnTnHex-2-PyP(5+) and MnTnHep-2-PyP(5+), respectively. MnTnBuOE-2-PyP(5+) was tested in an O(2)(.-) -specific in vivo assay, aerobic growth of SOD-deficient yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where it was fully protective in the range of 5-30 μM. MnTnHep-2-PyP(5+) was already toxic at 5 μM, and MnTnHex-2-PyP(5+) became toxic at 30 μM. In a mouse toxicity study, MnTnBuOE-2-PyP(5+) was several-fold less toxic than either MnTnHex-2-PyP(5+) or MnTnHep-2-PyP(5+).

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2012.02.006

Publication Info

Rajic, Zrinka, Artak Tovmasyan, Ivan Spasojevic, Huaxin Sheng, Miaomiao Lu, Alice M Li, Edith B Gralla, David S Warner, et al. (2012). A new SOD mimic, Mn(III) ortho N-butoxyethylpyridylporphyrin, combines superb potency and lipophilicity with low toxicity. Free radical biology & medicine, 52(9). pp. 1828–1834. 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2012.02.006 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23287.

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Scholars@Duke

Spasojevic

Ivan Spasojevic

Associate Professor in Medicine
Sheng

Huaxin Sheng

Associate Professor in Anesthesiology

We have successfully developed various rodent models of brain and spinal cord injuries in our lab, such as focal cerebral ischemia, global cerebral ischemia, head trauma, subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage, spinal cord ischemia and compression injury. We also established cardiac arrest and hemorrhagic shock models for studying multiple organ dysfunction.  Our current studies focus on two projects. One is to examine the efficacy of catalytic antioxidant in treating cerebral ischemia and the other is to examine the efficacy of post-conditioning on outcome of subarachnoid hemorrhage induced cognitive dysfunction.

Batinic-Haberle

Ines Batinic-Haberle

Professor Emeritus of Radiation Oncology

            A major interest of mine has been in the design and synthesis of Mn porphyrin(MnP)-based powerful catalytic antioxidants which helped establish structure-activity relationship (SAR). It relates the redox property of metalloporphyrins to their ability to remove superoxide. SAR has facilitated the design of redox-active therapeutics and served as a tool for mechanistic considerations. Importantly SAR parallels the magnitude of the therapeutic potential of SOD mimics and is valid for all classes of redox-active compounds. Two lead Mn porphyrins are already in five Phase II clinical trials (reviewed in Batinic-Haberle et al, Oxid Med Cell Longevity 2021). Recent research suggests immense potential of MnPs in cardiac diseases. MnTE-2-PyP (AEOL10113, BMX-010) prevents and treats cardiac arrhythmia, while MnTnBuOE-2-PyP (BMX-001) fully suppressed the development of aortic sclerosis in mice. The latter result is relevant to the cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. In addition to breast cancer, in collaboration with Angeles Alvarez Secord, MD, MHSc, we have recently shown the anticancer effects of Mn porphyrin/ascorbate in cellular and mouse models of ovarian cancer.

            In parallel with synthetic efforts, I have also been interested in the mechanistic aspects of differential actions of Mn porphyrins in normal vs tumor tissue. In-depth studies of chemistry and biology of the reactions of MnPs with redox-active agents relevant to cancer therapy – ascorbate, chemotherapy and radiation – set ground for understanding the role of thermodynamics and kinetics in the mechanism of action of Mn porphyrins. Mechanistic studies have been revealed in Batinic-Haberle et al, Antioxidant Redox Signal 2018, Batinic-Haberle and Tome, Redox Biology 2019 and Batinic-Haberle et al Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity 2021. My research has resulted in over 230 publications, 18 268 citations and an h-index of 64. For my achievements, I have been awarded the 2021 Discovery Award from the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine, SfRBM.

Additional Training

  • Postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Alvin Crumbliss in the field of Bioinorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Duke University
  • Postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Irwin Fridovich in the field of Redox Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Duke University School of Medicine

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