Torbafylline (HWA 448) inhibits enhanced skeletal muscle ubiquitin–proteasome-dependent proteolysis in cancer and septic rats

The development of new pharmacological approaches for preventing muscle wasting in cancer is an important goal because cachectic patients display a reduced response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Xanthine derivatives such as pentoxifylline inhibit tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF) production, which has been implicated in the signalling of muscle wasting. However, the effect of pentoxifylline has been inconclusive in clinical trials. We report here the first direct evidence that daily injections of torbafylline (also known as HWA 448), another xanthine derivative, had no effect by itself on muscle proteolysis in control healthy rats. In cancer rats, the drug blocked the lipopolysaccharide-induced hyperproduction of TNF and prevented muscle wasting. In these animals HWA 448 suppressed the enhanced proteasome-dependent proteolysis, which is sensitive to the proteasome inhibitor MG132, and the accumulation of high-molecular-mass ubiquitin (Ub) conjugates in the myofibrillar fraction. The drug also normalized the enhanced muscle expression of Ub, which prevails in the atrophying muscles from cancer rats. In contrast, HWA 448 did not reduce the increased expression of either the 14kDa Ub conjugating enzyme E2 or the ATPase and non-ATPase subunits of the 19S regulatory complex of the 26S proteasome, including the non-ATPase subunit S5a, which recognizes polyUb degradation signals. Finally, the drug also prevented muscle wasting in septic rats (which exhibit increased TNF production), and was much more potent than pentoxifylline or other xanthine derivatives. Taken together, the data indicate that HWA 448 is a powerful inhibitor of muscle wasting that blocks enhanced Ub—proteasome-dependent proteolysis in situations where TNF production rises, including cancer and sepsis.

Anti-HIV-1 Activity and Structure-Activity Relationship of Cepharanoline Derivatives in Chronically Infected Cells

Cepharanthine (12- O-methyl cepharanoline) is a plant alkaloid and has been shown to inhibit tumour necrosis factor-α- or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced HIV-1 replication in the chronically infected promonocytic cell line, U1. Its mechanism of action is considered to be the inhibition of nuclear factor κB, a potent inducer of HIV-1 gene expression. In this study, we have synthesized 96 derivatives of cepharanoline, including cepharanthine, and examined their inhibitory effects on HIV-1 replication in U1 cells. Among the 12- O-alkyl derivatives, cepharanthine proved to be the most active, and the activity decreased as the length of the alkyl chain increased. All of the 12- O-acyl derivatives were totally inactive, while a few 12- O-carbamoyl derivatives displayed modest activity. Since 12- O-ethyl derivatives were found to be as active as cepharanthine against HIV-1 replication, we further synthesized various 12- O-ethyl derivatives of cepharanoline. Among the derivatives, five proved to be more active inhibitors than cepharanthine, and the most active compound was 12- O-ethylpiperazinyl cepharanoline. The 50% effective concentrations of this compound and cepharanthine were 0.0041 and 0.028 μg/ml (0.0060 and 0.046 μM), respectively.