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Batista PR, de Alencar Silva A, Mikevely de Sena Bastos C, de Souza Borges A, Dias FJ, Ramon Dos Santos Pereira L, Tavares de Sousa Machado S, de Araújo Delmondes G, Kerntopf MR, Alencar de Menezes IR, Barbosa R. Vasorelaxant effect of (E,E)-farnesol in human umbilical vein ex vivo assays. Chem Biol Interact 2023; 386:110746. [PMID: 37816450 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2023.110746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023]
Abstract
(E,E)-farnesol is a sesquiterpene acyclic alcohol produced by bacteria, protozoa, fungi, plants, and animals. The literature describes its applications in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries, and also in the pharmacological context with a vasorelaxant effect. However, its effects on human umbilical vessels remain poorly investigated. Thus, this study aims to investigate, in a new way, the vasorelaxant effect of (E,E)-farnesol in human umbilical veins (HUV) from healthy donors. Rings obtained from isolated HUV were suspended in an organ bath to record their isometric tension in different experimental sections. (E,E)-farnesol (1 μmol/L to 1 mmol/L) promoted vasorelaxant effect in venous preparations contracted by depolarization (KCl 60 mmol/L) or pharmacological agonism (5-HT 10 μmol/L), with EC50 values of 239.9 μmol/L and 424 μmol/L, respectively. In calcium-free solution, this effect was also observable. (E,E)-farnesol was able to suppress contractions evoked by CaCl2 and BaCl2 suggesting a blockade of voltage-dependent (especially L-type) calcium channels. The vasorelaxant efficacy and potency of (E,E)-farnesol were affected in the presence of tetraethylammonium (1 and 10 mmol/L), glibenclamide (10 μmol/L) and BaCl2 (1 mmol/L) indicating a possible involvement of potassium channels (BKCa, KATP and KIR) in this effect. Our data suggest that (E,E)-farnesol has a promising potential to be applicable as a vasodilator in hypertensive conditions in pregnancy that alter HUV reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo Ricardo Batista
- Biological Chemistry Department, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil; Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | - Andressa de Alencar Silva
- Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil; Higher Institute of Biomedical Sciences, State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, 60714-903, Ceará, Brazil.
| | - Carla Mikevely de Sena Bastos
- Biological Chemistry Department, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil; Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | - Alex de Souza Borges
- Biological Chemistry Department, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil; Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | - Francisco Junio Dias
- Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | - Luiz Ramon Dos Santos Pereira
- Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | - Sara Tavares de Sousa Machado
- Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | | | - Marta Regina Kerntopf
- Biological Chemistry Department, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
| | | | - Roseli Barbosa
- Biological Chemistry Department, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil; Biological Sciences Department, Physiopharmacology of Excitable Cells Laboratory, Pimenta Campus, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, 63105-000, Ceará, Brazil.
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Anticancer Activity of Euplotin C, Isolated from the Marine Ciliate Euplotes crassus, Against Human Melanoma Cells. Mar Drugs 2018; 16:md16050166. [PMID: 29772645 PMCID: PMC5983297 DOI: 10.3390/md16050166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2018] [Revised: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Cutaneous melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, so new cytotoxic weapons against novel targets in melanoma are of great interest. Euplotin C (EC), a cytotoxic secondary metabolite of the marine ciliate Euplotes crassus, was evaluated in the present study on human cutaneous melanoma cells to explore its anti-melanoma activity and to gain more insight into its mechanism of action. EC exerted a marked cytotoxic effect against three different human melanoma cell lines (A375, 501Mel and MeWo) with a potency about 30-fold higher than that observed in non-cancer cells (HDFa cells). A pro-apoptotic activity and a decrease in melanoma cell migration by EC were also observed. At the molecular level, the inhibition of the Erk and Akt pathways, which control many aspects of melanoma aggressiveness, was shown. EC cytotoxicity was antagonized by dantrolene, a ryanodine receptor (RyR) antagonist, in a concentration-dependent manner. A role of RyR as a direct target of EC was also suggested by molecular modelling studies. In conclusion, our data provide the first evidence of the anti-melanoma activity of EC, suggesting it may be a promising new scaffold for the development of selective activators of RyR to be used for the treatment of melanoma and other cancer types.
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Catalani E, Proietti Serafini F, Zecchini S, Picchietti S, Fausto AM, Marcantoni E, Buonanno F, Ortenzi C, Perrotta C, Cervia D. Natural products from aquatic eukaryotic microorganisms for cancer therapy: Perspectives on anti-tumour properties of ciliate bioactive molecules. Pharmacol Res 2016; 113:409-420. [PMID: 27650755 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2016.09.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2016] [Revised: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 09/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Several modern drugs, including those for cancer therapy, have been isolated from natural sources, are based on natural products and its derivatives, or mime natural products. Some of them are in clinical use, others in clinical trials. The success of natural products in drug discovery is related to their biochemical characteristics and to the technologic methods used to study their feature. Natural compounds may acts as chemo-preventive agents and as factors that increase therapeutic efficacy of existing drugs, thus overcoming cancer cell drug resistance that is the main factor determining the failure in conventional chemotherapy. Water environment, because of its physical and chemical conditions, shows an extraordinary collection of natural biological substances with an extensive structural and functional diversity. The isolation of bioactive molecules has been reported from a great variety of aquatic organisms; however, the therapeutic application of molecules from eukaryotic microorganisms remains inadequately investigated and underexploited on a systematic basis. Herein we describe the biological activities in mammalian cells of selected substances isolated from ciliates, free-living protozoa common almost everywhere there is water, focusing on their anti-tumour actions and their possible therapeutic activity. In particular, we unveil the cellular and molecular machine mediating the effects of cell type-specific signalling protein pheromone Er-1 and secondary metabolites, i.e. euplotin C and climacostol, in cancer cells. To support the feasibility of climacostol-based approaches, we also present novel findings and report additional mechanisms of action using both in vitro and in vivo models of mouse melanomas, with the scope of highlighting new frontiers that can be explored also in a therapeutic perspective. The high skeletal chemical difference of ciliate compounds, their sustainability and availability, also through the use of new organic synthesis/modifications processes, and the results obtained so far in biological studies provide a rationale to consider some of them a potential resource for the design of new anti-cancer drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Catalani
- Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Francesca Proietti Serafini
- Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Silvia Zecchini
- Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital "Luigi Sacco"-ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, Milano, Italy
| | - Simona Picchietti
- Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Anna Maria Fausto
- Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Enrico Marcantoni
- School of Sciences and Technologies, Section of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Camerino, Italy
| | - Federico Buonanno
- Laboratory of Protistology and Biology Education, Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Università degli Studi di Macerata, Italy
| | - Claudio Ortenzi
- Laboratory of Protistology and Biology Education, Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Università degli Studi di Macerata, Italy
| | - Cristiana Perrotta
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences "Luigi Sacco" (DIBIC), Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
| | - Davide Cervia
- Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy; Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences "Luigi Sacco" (DIBIC), Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
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Structures, biological activities and phylogenetic relationships of terpenoids from marine ciliates of the genus Euplotes. Mar Drugs 2010; 8:2080-116. [PMID: 20714425 PMCID: PMC2920544 DOI: 10.3390/md8072080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2010] [Revised: 07/06/2010] [Accepted: 07/06/2010] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In the last two decades, large scale axenic cell cultures of the marine species comprising the family Euplotidae have resulted in the isolation of several new classes of terpenoids with unprecedented carbon skeletons including the (i) euplotins, highly strained acetylated sesquiterpene hemiacetals; (ii) raikovenals, built on the bicyclo[3.2.0]heptane ring system; (iii) rarisetenolides and focardins containing an octahydroazulene moiety; and (iv) vannusals, with a unique C30 backbone. Their complex structures have been elucidated through a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, molecular mechanics and quantum chemical calculations. Despite the limited number of biosynthetic experiments having been performed, the large diversity of ciliate terpenoids has facilitated the proposal of biosynthetic pathways whereby they are produced from classical linear precursors. Herein, the similarities and differences emerging from the comparison of the classical chemotaxonomy approach based on secondary metabolites, with species phylogenesis based on genetic descriptors (SSU-rDNA), will be discussed. Results on the interesting ecological and biological properties of ciliate terpenoids are also reported.
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