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With the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak there has been concern that patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who develop COVID-19 may be at risk of greater morbidity and mortality than patients without OSA. COVID-19 is associated with an increased mortality in the elderly and particularly those with obesity, hypertension and diabetes, features which are typically seen in patients with OSA. This article describes the COVID-19 environment in New York City in which patients were evaluated and treated for OSA. A telephone questionnaire survey of 112 OSA patients determined the occurrence of COVID-19 in the sleep apnea population and the patients’ perspective on sleep apnea Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) management during the COVID-19 outbreak. The three main objectives of the survey were as follows: 1) To discover how patients were coping with COVID-19 pandemic in terms of their sleep apnea and PAP use, 2) To determine whether PAP usage changed after the onset of the outbreak in terms of adherence, and 3) To find out if patients were concerned about whether they were at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 because of their sleep apnea and, if they became infected, whether COVID-19 might result in greater complications because of the presence of sleep apnea. The adjustment in clinical management of OSA patients is described both during the peak of the outbreak in NYS, as well as the proposed modifications that will be instituted in order to return to full sleep center activities., Highlights • Common OSA comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity, overlap with those of patients who die of COVID-19 complications and the interaction needs further research. • Treating OSA patients with PAP during the COVID-19 pandemic requires careful management to reduce patient concerns and optimize patient care. • Safety measures to minimize exposure and dissemination of COVID-19 by PAP therapy should be instituted by sleep centers during both the peak of the epidemic and at centers reopening.

The inflammatory response in the central nervous system involves activated microglia. Under normal conditions they remove damaged neurons by phagocytosis. On the other hand, neurodegenerative diseases are thought to involve chronic microglia activation resulting in release of excess glutamate, proinflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species, leading to neuronal death. System xC- cystine/glutamate antiporter (SXC), a sodium independent heterodimeric transporter found in microglia and astrocytes in the CNS, imports cystine into the cell and exports glutamate. SXC has been shown to be upregulated in neurodegenerative diseases including multiple sclerosis, ALS, neuroAIDS Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Consequently, SXC inhibitors could be of use in the treatment of diseases characterized by neuroinflammation and glutamate excitotoxicity. We report on the optimization of a primary microglia-based assay to screen for SXC inhibitors. Rat primary microglia were activated using lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and glutamate release and cystine uptake were monitored by fluorescence and radioactivity respectively. LPS-induced glutamate release increased with increasing cell density, time of incubation and LPS concentration. Conditions to screen for SXC inhibitors were optimized in 96-well format and subsequently used to evaluate SXC inhibitors. Known SXC inhibitors sulfasalazine, S-4CPG and erastin blocked glutamate release and cystine uptake while R-4CPG, the inactive enantiomer of S-4CPG, failed to inhibit glutamate release or cystine transport. In addition, several erastin analogs were evaluated using primary microglia and found to have EC50 values in agreement with previous studies using established cell lines., Highlights • Conditions to screen for SXC inhibitors were optimized in 96-well format. • Assay enables higher throughput screens for SXC inhibitors with primary microglia. • Screening assay was used to evaluate prototype SXC inhibitors and erastin analogs.

Both JNK and LRRK2 are associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Here we report a reasonably selective and potent kinase inhibitor (compound 6) that bound to both JNK and LRRK2 (a dual inhibitor). A bidentate-binding strategy that simultaneously utilized the ATP hinge binding and a unique protein surface site outside of the ATP pocket was applied to the design and identification of this kind of inhibitor. Compound 6 was a potent JNK3 and modest LRRK2 dual inhibitor with an enzyme IC50 value of 12 nM and 99 nM (LRRK2-G2019S), respectively. Compound 6 also exhibited good cell potency, inhibited LRRK2:G2019S-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in SHSY5Y cells, and was demonstrated to be reasonably selective against a panel of 116 kinases from representative kinase families. Design of such a probe molecule may help enable testing if dual JNK and LRRK2 inhibitions have added or synergistic efficacy in protecting against neurodegeneration in PD.

The accumulation of excess glutamate in the extracellular space as a consequence of CNS trauma, neurodegenerative diseases, infection, or deregulation of glutamate clearance results in neuronal damage by excessive excitatory neurotransmission. Glutamate excitotoxicity is thought to be one of several mechanisms by which HIV exerts neurotoxicity that culminates in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Excess glutamate is released upon HIV infection of macrophage/microglial cells and has been associated with neurotoxicity mediated by gp120, transactivator of transcription (Tat) and other HIV proteins. Several strategies have been used over the years to try to prevent glutamate excitotoxicity. Since the main toxic effects of excess glutamate are thought to be due to excitotoxicity from over activation of glutamate receptors, antagonists of these receptors have been popular therapeutic targets. Early work to ameliorate the effects of excess extracellular glutamate focused on NMDA receptor antagonism, but unfortunately, potent blockade of this receptor has been fraught with side effects. One alternative to direct receptor blockade has been the inhibition of enzymes responsible for the production of glutamate such as glutaminase and glutamate carboxypeptidase II. Another approach has been to regulate the transporters responsible for modulation of extracellular glutamate such as excitatory amino acid transporters and the glutamate-cystine antiporter. There is preliminary experimental evidence that these approaches have potential therapeutic utility for the treatment of HAND. These efforts however, are at an early stage where the next steps are dependent on the identification of drug-like inhibitors as well as the development of predictive neuroAIDS animal models.

VEK-30, a 30-amino acid internal peptide present within a streptococcal M-like plasminogen (Pg)-binding protein (PAM) from Gram-positive group-A streptococci (GAS), represents an epitope within PAM that shows high affinity for the lysine binding site (LBS) of the kringle-2 (K2) domain of human (h)Pg. VEK-30 does not interact with this same region of mouse (m)Pg, despite the high conservation of the mK2- and hK2-LBS. To identify the molecular basis for the species specificity of this interaction, hPg and mPg variants were generated, including an hPg chimera with the mK2 sequence and an mPg chimera containing the hK2 sequence. The binding of synthetic VEK-30 to these variants was studied by surface plasmon resonance. The data revealed that, in otherwise intact Pg, the species specificity of VEK-30 binding in these two cases is entirely dictated by two K2 residues that are different between hPg and mPg, namely, Arg-220 of hPg, which is a Gly in mPg, and Leu-222 of hPg, which is a Pro in mPg, neither of which are members of the canonical K2-LBS. Neither the activation of hPg, nor the enzymatic activity of its activated product, plasmin (hPm), are compromised by replacing these two amino acids by their murine counterparts. It is also demonstrated that hPg is more susceptible to activation to hPm after complexation with VEK-30 and that this property is greatly reduced as a result of the R220G and L222P replacements in hPg. These mechanisms for accumulation of protease activity on GAS likely contribute to the virulence of PAM(+)-GAS strains and identify targets for new therapeutic interventions.

This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grants: P30 MH075673-06 to BSS, CR, NJH and JCM; R01 MH096636 and R01 MH077542 to NJH (http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.​cfm); and The Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute to BSS. Ceramide is a bioactive lipid that plays an important role in stress responses leading to apoptosis, cell growth arrest and differentiation. Ceramide production is due in part to sphingomyelin hydrolysis by sphingomyelinases. In brain, neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) is expressed in neurons and increases in its activity and expression have been associated with pro-inflammatory conditions observed in Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) patients. Increased nSMase2 activity translates into higher ceramide levels and neuronal cell death, which can be prevented by chemical or genetic inhibition of nSMase2 activity or expression. However, to date, there are no soluble, specific and potent small molecule inhibitor tool compounds for in vivo studies or as a starting point for medicinal chemistry optimization. Moreover, the majority of the known inhibitors were identified using bacterial, bovine or rat nSMase2. In an attempt to identify new inhibitor scaffolds, two activity assays were optimized as screening platform using the recombinant human enzyme. First, active hits were identified using a fluorescence-based high throughput compatible assay. Then, hits were confirmed using a 14C sphingomyelin-based direct activity assay. Pharmacologically active compounds and approved drugs were screened using this strategy which led to the identification of cambinol as a novel uncompetitive nSMase2 inhibitor (Ki = 7 μM). The inhibitory activity of cambinol for nSMase2 was approximately 10-fold more potent than for its previously known target, silence information regulator 1 and 2 (SIRT1/2). Cambinol decreased tumor necrosis factor-α or interleukin-1 β-induced increases of ceramide and cell death in primary neurons. A preliminary study of cambinol structure and activity allowed the identification of the main structural features required for nSMase2 inhibition. Cambinol and its analogs may be useful as nSMase2 inhibitor tool compounds to prevent ceramide-dependent neurodegeneration. Publisher PDF

Complex biological processes such as inflammation, cell death, migration, proliferation, and the release of biologically active molecules can be used as outcomes in phenotypic assays during early stages of drug discovery. Although target-based approaches have been widely used over the past decades, a disproportionate number of first-in-class drugs have been identified using phenotypic screening. This review details phenotypic assays based on inhibition of microglial activation and their utility in primary and secondary screening, target validation, and pathway elucidation. The role of microglia, both in normal as well as in pathological conditions such as chronic neurodegenerative diseases, is reviewed. Methodologies to assess microglia activation in vitro are discussed in detail, and classes of therapeutic drugs known to decrease the proinflammatory and cytotoxic responses of activated microglia are appraised, including inhibitors of glutaminase, cystine/glutamate antiporter, nuclear factor κB, and mitogen-activated protein kinases.

c-Jun N-terminal (JNK) family kinases have a common peptide-docking site used by upstream activating kinases, substrates, scaffold proteins, and phosphatases, where the ensemble of bound proteins determines signaling output. Although there are many JNK structures, little is known about mechanisms of allosteric regulation between the catalytic and peptide-binding sites, and the activation loop, whose phosphorylation is required for catalytic activity. Here, we compare three structures of unliganded JNK3 bound to different peptides. These were compared as a class to structures that differ in binding of peptide, small molecule ligand, or conformation of the kinase activation loop. Peptide binding induced an inhibitory interlobe conformer that was reversed by alterations in the activation loop. Structure class analysis revealed the subtle structural mechanisms for allosteric signaling between the peptide-binding site and activation loop. Biochemical data from isothermal calorimetry, fluorescence energy transfer, and enzyme inhibition demonstrated affinity differences among the three peptides that were consistent with structural observations.

c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is a stress signal transducer linked to cell death, and survival. JNK1 has been implicated in obesity, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. In this study we report the kinetic mechanism for JNK1β1 with transcription factors ATF2 and c-Jun along with interaction kinetics for these substrates. JNK1β1 followed a random sequential mechanism forming a ternary complex between JNK-substrate-ATP. K(m) for ATF2 and c-Jun was 1.1 and 2.8 μM, respectively. Inhibition studies using adenosine 5'-(β,γ-methylenetriphosphate) and a peptide derived from JNK interacting protein 1 (JIP1) supported the proposed kinetic mechanism. Biolayer interferometry studies showed that unphosphorylated JNK1β1 bound to ATF2 with similar affinity as it did to c-Jun (K(D) = 2.60 ± 0.34 versus 1.00 ± 0.35 μM, respectively). The presence of ATP increased the affinity of unphosphorylated JNK1β1 for ATF2 and c-Jun, to 0.80 ± 0.04 versus 0.65 ± 0.07 μM, respectively. Phosphorylation of JNK1β1 decreased the affinity of the kinase for ATF2 to 11.0 ± 1.1 μM and for c-Jun to 17.0 ± 7.5 μM in the absence of ATP. The presence of ATP caused a shift in the K(D) of the active kinase for ATF2 to 1.70 ± 0.25 μM and for c-Jun of 3.50 ± 0.95 μM. These results are the first kinetic and biochemical characterization of JNK1β1 and uncover some of the differences in the enzymatic activity of JNK1β1 compared with other variants and suggest that ATP binding or JNK phosphorylation could induce changes in the interactions with substrates, activators, and regulatory proteins.

The c-jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are responsive to stress stimuli leading to activation of proapoptotic proteins and transcription. Additionally, JNK mitochondrial localization has been reported. To selectively target mitochondrial JNK signaling, we exploited JNK interaction with its mitochondrial scaffold, Sab, using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and a cell-permeable peptide corresponding to the KIM1 domain of Sab. Gene silencing and peptide interference of this interaction disrupted JNK translocation to the mitochondria and reduced phosphorylation of Bcl-2 without significant impact on c-Jun phosphorylation or AP-1 transcription. In contrast, the JNK inhibitory peptide (TI-JIP1) prevented these three functions. Tat-Sab(KIM1) selectivity was also demonstrated in anisomycin-stressed HeLa cells where Tat-Sab(KIM1) prevented Bcl-2 phosphorylation, cell death, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and superoxide generation but not c-Jun phosphorylation. Conversely, TI-JIP1 prevented all aforementioned stress-induced events. This probe introduces a means to evaluate JNK-mediated events on the mitochondria without intervening in nuclear functions of JNK.

In vertebrates, fibrinolysis is primarily carried out by the serine protease plasmin (Pm), which is derived from activation of the zymogen precursor, plasminogen (Pg). One of the most distinctive features of Pg/Pm is the presence of five homologous kringle (K) domains. These structural elements possess conserved Lys-binding sites (LBS) that facilitate interactions with substrates, activators, inhibitors and receptors. In human Pg (hPg), K2 displays weak Lys affinity, however the LBS of this domain has been implicated in an atypical interaction with the N-terminal region of a bacterial surface protein known as PAM ( P g-binding group A streptococcal M -like protein). A direct correlation has been established between invasiveness of group A streptococci and their ability to bind Pg. It has been previously demonstrated that a 30-residue internal peptide (VEK-30) from the N-terminal region of PAM competitively inhibits binding of the full-length parent protein to Pg. We have attempted to determine the effects of this ligand–protein interaction on the regulation of Pg zymogen activation and conformation. Our results show minimal effects on the sedimentation velocity coefficients (S°20,w) of Pg when associated to VEK-30 and a direct relationship between the concentration of VEK-30 or PAM and the activation rate of Pg. These results are in contrast with the major conformational changes elicited by small-molecule activators of Pg, and point towards a novel mechanism of Pg activation that may underlie group A streptococcal (GAS) virulence.