Cell-penetration by Co(III)cyclen-based peptide-cleaving catalysts selective for pathogenic proteins of amyloidoses.

Derivatives of the Co(III) complex of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (cyclen) with various organic pendants have been reported as target-selective peptide-cleaving catalysts, which can be exploited as catalytic drugs. In order to provide a firm basis for the catalytic drugs based on Co(III)cyclen, the ability of the Co(III)cyclen-containing peptide-cleaving catalysts to penetrate animal cells such as mouse fibroblast NIH-3T 3 or human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells is demonstrated in the present study. Since the catalysts destroy pathogenic proteins for amyloidoses, results of the present study are expected to initiate extensive efforts to obtain therapeutically safe catalytic drugs for amyloidoses such as Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, mad cow disease, and so on. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.