Insulin resistance develops with ageing in humans and rodents. Here, we have studied the evolution of insulin sensitivity with ageing trying to discriminate the role of adiposity from that of ageing in this process. We performed oral glucose tolerance tests and determined overall and tissue-specific glucose utilization under euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic conditions in 3-, 8-, and 24-month-old rats fed ad libitum, and in 8-and 24-month-old rats after 3 months of calorie restriction. Body composition and adipocytederived cytokines such as leptin, resistin, and adiponectin were analyzed. Overall insulin sensitivity decreases with ageing. Calorie restriction improves global insulin sensitivity in 8-but not in 24-month-old rats. Insulin-stimulated glucose utilization in adipose tissues decreases in 8 months, while in oxidative muscles it reaches significance only in older rats. Calorie restriction restores adipose tissue insulin sensitivity only in 8-month-old rats and no changes are observed in muscles of 24-month-old rats. Resistin and leptin increase with ageing. Food restriction lowers resistin and increases adiponectin in 8-month-old rats and decreases leptin in both ages. Visceral and total fat increase with ageing and decrease after calorie restriction. We conclude that accretion of visceral fat plays a key role in the development of insulin resistance after sexual maturity, which is reversible by calorie restriction. With aging, accumulation of retroperitoneal and total body fat leads to impaired muscle glucose uptake and to a state of insulin resistance that is difficult to reverse.

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Crystallographic and thermodynamic studies of farnesyl protein transferase (FPT) complexed with novel tricyclic inhibitors provide insights into the observed SAR for this unique class of nonpeptidic FPT inhibitors. The crystallographic structures reveal a binding pattern conserved across the mono-, di-, and trihalogen series. In the complexes, the tricycle spans the FPT active site cavity and interacts with both protein atoms and the isoprenoid portion of bound farnesyl diphosphate. An amide carbonyl, common to the tricyclic compounds described here, participates in a water-mediated hydrogen bond to the protein backbone. Ten high-resolution crystal structures of inhibitors complexed with FPT are reported. Included are crystallographic data for FPT complexed with SCH 66336, a compound currently undergoing clinical trials as an anticancer agent (SCH 66336, 4-[2-[4-(3,10-dibromo-8-chloro-6,11-dihydro-5H-benzo[5, 6]cyclohepta[1, 2-b]pyridin-11-yl)-1-piperidinyl]-2-oxoethyl]-1-piperidinecarbo xamide ). Thermodynamic binding parameters show favorable enthalpies of complex formation and small net entropic contributions as observed for 4-[2-[4-(3,10-dibromo-8-chloro-6,11-dihydro-11H-benzo[5, 6]cyclohepta[1, 2-b]pyridin-11-ylidene)-1-piperidinyl]-2-oxoethyl]pyridine N-oxide where DeltaH degrees bind = -12.5 kcal/mol and TDeltaS degrees bind = -1.5 kcal/mol.

Inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) has emerged as an attractive strategy for the development of novel oncology therapeutics. Herein is described the utilization of an in vivo screening approach with integrated efficacy and tolerability parameters to identify candidate CDK inhibitors with a suitable balance of activity and tolerability. This approach has resulted in the identification of SCH 727965, a potent and selective CDK inhibitor that is currently undergoing clinical evaluation.

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