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Journal ArticleDOI

Mevinolin: a highly potent competitive inhibitor of hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase and a cholesterol-lowering agent.

TL;DR: It was shown that mevinolin was an orally active cholesterol-lowering agent in the dog and orally administered sodium mevinolinate was an active inhibitor of cholesterol synthesis in an acute assay.
Abstract: Mevinolin, a fungal metabolite, was isolated from cultures of Aspergillus terreus. The structure and absolute configuration of mevinolini and its open acid form, mevinolinic acid, were determined by a combination of physical techniques. Mevinolin was shown to be 1,2,6,7,8,8a-hexahydro-beta, delta-dihydroxy-2,6-dimethyl-8-(2-methyl-1-oxobutoxy)-1-naphthalene-hepatanoic acid delta-lactone. Mevinolin in the hydroxy-acid form, mevinolinic acid, is a potent competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase [mevalonate: NADP+ oxidoreductase (CoA-acylating), EC 1.1.1.34]; its Ki of 0.6 nM can be compared to 1.4 nM for the hydroxy acid form of the previously described related inhibitor, ML-236B (compactin, 6-demethylmevinolin). In the rat, orally administered sodium mevinolinate was an active inhibitor of cholesterol synthesis in an acute assay (50% inhibitory dose = 46 microgram/kg). Furthermore, it was shown that mevinolin was an orally active cholesterol-lowering agent in the dog. Treatment of dogs for 3 weeks with mevinolin at 8 mg/kg per day resulted in a 29.3 +/- 2.5% lowering of plasma cholesterol.
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Journal ArticleDOI
04 Apr 1986-Science
TL;DR: The approach was to apply the techniques of cell culture to unravel the postulated regulatory defect in FH, which led to the discovery of a cell surface receptor for a plasma cholesterol transport protein called low density lipoprotein (LDL) and to the elucidation of the mechanism by which this receptor mediates feedback control of cholesterol synthesis.
Abstract: In 1901 a physician, Archibald Garrod, observed a patient with black urine. He used this simple observation to demonstrate that a single mutant gene can produce a discrete block in a biochemical pathway, which he called an “inborn error of metabolism”. Garrod’s brilliant insight anticipated by 40 years the one gene-one enzyme concept of Beadle and Tatum. In similar fashion the chemist Linus Pauling and the biochemist Vernon Ingram, through study of patients with sickle cell anemia, showed that mutant genes alter the amino acid sequences of proteins. Clearly, many fundamental advances in biology were spawned by perceptive studies of human genetic diseases (1). We began our work in 1972 in an attempt to understand a human genetic disease, familial hypercholesterolemia or FH. In these patients the concentration of cholesterol in blood is elevated many fold above normal and heart attacks occur early in life. We postulated that this dominantly inherited disease results from a failure of end-product repression of cholesterol synthesis. The possibility fascinated us because genetic defects in feedback regulation had not been observed previously in humans or animals, and we hoped that study of this disease might throw light on fundamental regulatory mechanisms. Our approach was to apply the techniques of cell culture to unravel the postulated regulatory defect in FH. These studies led to the discovery of a cell surface receptor for a plasma cholesterol transport protein called low density lipoprotein (LDL) and to the elucidation of the mechanism by which this receptor mediates feedback control of cholesterol synthesis (2,3). FH was shown to be caused by inherited defects in the gene encoding the LDL receptor, which disrupt the normal control of cholesterol metabolism. Study of the LDL receptor in turn led to the understanding of receptor-mediated endocytosis, a genera! process by which cells communicate with each other through internalization of regulatory and nutritional molecules (4). Receptor-mediated endocytosis differs from previously described biochemical pathways because it depends upon the continuous and highly controlled movement of membraneembedded proteins from one cell organelle to another in a process termed

5,488 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
07 Jul 2000-Cell
TL;DR: A reference database or "compendium" of expression profiles corresponding to 300 diverse mutations and chemical treatments in S. cerevisiae is constructed, and it is shown that the cellular pathways affected can be determined by pattern matching, even among very subtle profiles.

2,698 citations


Cites background from "Mevinolin: a highly potent competit..."

  • ...CoA reductase (Alberts et al., 1980), results in a tran- (A) Prominent gene clusters responding to interference with ergosterol biosynthesis, assembled from Figure 1B. Color scale is identical to Figure 1B....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recent studies indicate that some of the cholesterol-independent or "pleiotropic" effects of statins involve improving endothelial function, enhancing the stability of atherosclerotic plaques, decreasing oxidative stress and inflammation, and inhibiting the thrombogenic response.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract Statins are potent inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis. In clinical trials, statins are beneficial in the primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. However, the over...

1,712 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Strategies to re-establish viable platforms for antibiotic discovery include investigating untapped natural product sources such as uncultured bacteria, establishing rules of compound penetration to enable the development of synthetic antibiotics, developing species-specific antibiotics and identifying prodrugs that have the potential to eradicate dormant persisters, which are often responsible for hard-to-treat infections.
Abstract: The spread of resistant bacteria, leading to untreatable infections, is a major public health threat but the pace of antibiotic discovery to combat these pathogens has slowed down. Most antibiotics were originally isolated by screening soil-derived actinomycetes during the golden era of antibiotic discovery in the 1940s to 1960s. However, diminishing returns from this discovery platform led to its collapse, and efforts to create a new platform based on target-focused screening of large libraries of synthetic compounds failed, in part owing to the lack of penetration of such compounds through the bacterial envelope. This article considers strategies to re-establish viable platforms for antibiotic discovery. These include investigating untapped natural product sources such as uncultured bacteria, establishing rules of compound penetration to enable the development of synthetic antibiotics, developing species-specific antibiotics and identifying prodrugs that have the potential to eradicate dormant persisters, which are often responsible for hard-to-treat infections.

1,221 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A general review of hollow fiber membrane contactors, including operating principles, relevant mathematics, and applications, is provided in this paper, where a number of membrane module geometries are possible, hollow fiber modules have received the most attention.

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References
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3,812 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The simplified but precise method described in this paper involves treatment of the serum with alcoholic potassium hydroxide to liberate the cholesterol from the lipoprotein complexes and to saponify the cholesterol esters.

2,967 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Risk of coronary heart disease over 14 years was examined prospectively in 2,282 men and 2,845 women according to their antecedent cholesterol and lipoprotein status.
Abstract: Abstract Risk of coronary heart disease over 14 years was examined prospectively in 2,282 men and 2,845 women according to their antecedent cholesterol and lipoprotein status. An increased risk pro...

2,044 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The experiments reported in this paper demonstrate that MG236A and ML-236B inhibit specifically 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG)CoA reductase (EC 1 .I .1.34), the rate-limiting enzyme in cholesterol synthetic pathway, without affecting the rest of the enzymes involved in this pathway, and that the inhibition is competitive with respect to the substrate HMG-CoA.

699 citations