MIL-1, a novel antitumor agent derived from natural product millepachine, acts as tubulin polymerization inhibitor for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

The role of kinesin family members in hepatobiliary carcinomas: from bench to bedside

As a major component of the digestive system malignancies, tumors originating from the hepatic and biliary ducts seriously endanger public health. The kinesins (KIFs) are molecular motors that enable the microtubule-dependent intracellular trafficking necessary for mitosis and meiosis. Normally, the stability of KIFs is essential to maintain cell proliferation and genetic homeostasis. However, aberrant KIFs activity may destroy this dynamic stability, leading to uncontrolled cell division and tumor initiation. In this work, we have made an integral summarization of the specific roles of KIFs in hepatocellular and biliary duct carcinogenesis, referring to aberrant signal transduction and the potential for prognostic evaluation. Additionally, current clinical applications of KIFs-targeted inhibitors have also been discussed, including their efficacy advantages, relationship with drug sensitivity or resistance, the feasibility of combination chemotherapy or other targeted agents, as well as the corresponding clinical trials. In conclusion, the abnormally activated KIFs participate in the regulation of tumor progression via a diverse range of mechanisms and are closely associated with tumor prognosis. Meanwhile, KIFs-aimed inhibitors also carry out a promising tumor-targeted therapeutic strategy that deserves to be further investigated in hepatobiliary carcinoma (HBC).

A review on Millepachine and its derivatives as potential multitarget anticancer agents

Chalcones have a long history of being used for many medical purposes. These are the most prestigious scaffolds in medicine. The potential of Millepachine and its derivatives to treat various malignancies has been demonstrated in this review. The anticancer effects of Millepachine and its derivatives on ovarian cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast, liver, colon, cervical, prostate, stomach, and gliomas are highlighted in the current review. Several genes that are crucial in reducing the severity of the disease have been altered by these substances. They mainly work by preventing tubulin polymerizing. They also exhibit apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. Additionally, these compounds inhibit invasion and migration and have antiproliferative effects. Preclinical studies have shown that Millepachine and its derivatives offer exceptional potential for treating a number of cancers. These results need to be confirmed in clinical research in order to develop viable cancer therapies.

Synthesis, anti-ferroptosis, anti-quorum sensing, antibacterial and DNA interaction studies of chromene-hydrazone derivatives

Nineteen chromene-hydrazone derivatives containing a variety of structural modifications on the hydrazone moiety were synthesized. Structure-activity correlations were investigated to determine the influence of structural variations on anti-ferroptosis, anti-quorum sensing, antibacterial, DNA cleavage and DNA binding properties. Ferroptosis inhibitory activity was determined by measuring the ability of the derivatives to reverse erastin-induced ferroptosis. Several of the derivatives were more effective than fisetin at inhibiting ferroptosis, with the thiosemicarbazone derivative being the most effective. Quorum sensing inhibition was evaluated using Vibrio harveyi, and both V. harveyi and Staphylococcus aureus were used to determine antibacterial activity. The semicarbazone and benzensulfonyl hydrazone derivatives showed moderate quorum sensing inhibition with IC₅₀ values of 27 μM and 22 μM, respectively, while a few aryl hydrazone and pyridyl hydrazone derivatives showed bacterial growth inhibition, with MIC values ranging from 3.9 to 125 μM. In addition, the interaction of the hydrazone derivatives with DNA was investigated by gel electrophoresis, UV-Vis spectroscopy and molecular docking. All of the derivatives cleaved plasmid DNA and showed favorable interaction with B-DNA through minor groove binding. Overall, this work highlights a broad range of pharmacological applications for chromene-hydrazone derivatives.

Advancements in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Potential Preclinical Drugs and their Future

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the foremost causes of tumor-affiliated demises globally. The HCC treatment has undergone numerous developments in terms of both drug and non-drug treatments. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the usage of a variety of drugs for the treatment of HCC in recent years, involving multi-kinase inhibitors (lenvatinib, regorafenib, ramucirumab, and cabozantinib), immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) (pembrolizumab and nivolumab), and combination therapies like atezolizumab along with bevacizumab. There are currently over a thousand ongoing clinical and preclinical studies for novel HCC drugs, which portrays a competent setting in the field. This review discusses the i. FDA-approved HCC drugs, their molecular targets, safety profiles, and potential disadvantages; ii. The intrial agents/drugs, their molecular targets, and possible benefits compared to alternatives, and iii. The current and future status of potential preclinical drugs with novel therapeutic targets for HCC. Consequently, existing drug treatments and novel strategies with their balanced consumption could ensure a promising future for a universal remedy of HCC in the near future.

Efforts in Bioprospecting Research: A Survey of Novel Anticancer Phytochemicals Reported in the Last Decade

Bioprospecting natural products to find prominent agents for medical application is an area of scientific endeavor that has produced many clinically used bioactive compounds, including anticancer agents. These compounds come from plants, microorganisms, and marine life. They are so-called secondary metabolites that are important for a species to survive in the hostile environment of its respective ecosystem. The kingdom of Plantae has been an important source of traditional medicine in the past and is also enormously used today as an exquisite reservoir for detecting novel bioactive compounds that are potent against hard-to-treat maladies such as cancer. Cancer therapies, especially chemotherapies, are fraught with many factors that are difficult to manage, such as drug resistance, adverse side effects, less selectivity, complexity, etc. Here, we report the results of an exploration of the databases of PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar for bioactive anticancer phytochemicals published between 2010 and 2020. Our report is restricted to new compounds with strong-to-moderate bioactivity potential for which mass spectroscopic structural data are available. Each of the phytochemicals reported in this review was assigned to chemical classes with peculiar anticancer properties. In our survey, we found anticancer phytochemicals that are reported to have selective toxicity against cancer cells, to sensitize MDR cancer cells, and to have multitarget effects in several signaling pathways. Surprisingly, many of these compounds have limited follow-up studies. Detailed investigations into the synthesis of more functional derivatives, chemical genetics, and the clinical relevance of these compounds are required to achieve safer chemotherapy.

Research Status and Hotspots of Anticancer Natural Products Based on the Patent Literature and Scientific Articles

Background: The patent literature contains a large amount of information on the internal state of current industrial technologies that are not available in other literature studies. Scientific articles are the direct achievements of theoretical research in this field and can reveal how current theories in basic research have developed. In this study, the progress and status of natural anticancer products in this field were summarized, and the research hotspots were explored through the analysis of the relevant patent literature and scientific articles. Methods: Patent data were retrieved from the incoPat patent retrieval database, and paper data were retrieved from the Web of Science core set and PubMed. GraphPad Prism 8, Microsoft Excel 2010, and CiteSpace 5.8.R3 were used to perform visual processing. The analyzed patent literature includes the patent applicant type, country (or region), and technical subject. The analyzed scientific article includes academic groups, subject areas, keyword clustering, and burst detection. Results: A total of 20,435 patent families and 38,746 articles were collected by 4 January 2022. At present, antitumor drugs derived from natural products mainly include 1) apoptosis inducers such as curcumin, gallic acid, resveratrol, Theranekron D6, and gaillardin; 2) topoisomerase inhibitors such as camptothecins, scaffold-hopped flavones, podophyllotoxin, oxocrebanine, and evodiamine derivatives; 3) telomerase inhibitors such as camptothecin and isoquinoline alkaloids of Chelidonium majus, amentoflavone, and emodin; 4) microtubule inhibitors such as kolaflavanone, tanshinone IIA analog, eugenol, and millepachine; 5) immunomodulators such as fucoidan, myricetin, bergapten, and atractylenolide I; 6) tumor microenvironment regulators such as beta-escin and icaritin; 7) multidrug resistance reversal agents such as berberine, quercetin, and dihydromyricetin; and 8) antiangiogenic and antimetastatic agents such as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, lupeol, ononin, and saikosaponin A. Conclusion: Anticancer natural product technology was introduced earlier, but the later development momentum was insufficient. In addition, scientific research activities are relatively closed, and technical exchanges need to be strengthened. Currently, the development of medicinal plants and the research on the anticancer mechanism of natural active products are still research hotspots, especially those related to immune checkpoints, essential oils, and metastatic cancer. Theories of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), such as "restraining excessiveness to acquire harmony," "same treatment for different diseases," "Meridian induction theory," and "Fuzheng Quxie," have important guiding significance to the research of anticancer mechanisms and the development of new drugs and can provide new ideas for this process. Systematic Review Registration: [https://sourceforge.net/projects/citespace/], identifier [000755430500001].

Structure modification and biological evaluation of indole-chalcone derivatives as anti-tumor agents through dual targeting tubulin and TrxR

Microtubule target agents (MTAs) are widely-used clinical anti-cancer drugs for decades, but the acquired drug resistance severely restricted their application. Thioredoxin reductases (TrxR) was reported to be overexpressed in most tumors and closely related to high risk of cancer recurrence and drug resistance, making it a potential target for anticancer drug discovery. Multi-target-directed ligands (MTDLs) by a single molecule provide a logical and alternative approach to drug combinations. In this work, based on the structure-activity relationships obtained in our previous study, some structure modifications were performed. On one hand, the retained skeleton structure of MTAs endowed its tubulin polymerization inhibition activity, on the other hand, the selenium-containing structure and α,β-unsaturated ketone moiety endowed the TrxR inhibition activity. As results, the newly obtained compounds exhibited superior anti-proliferative activities towards various human cancer cells and drug-resistance cells, and displayed high selectivity towards various human normal cells. The mechanism study revealed that the dual effect of cell cycle arrest triggered by targeting tubulin and the abnormal accumulation of ROS caused by TrxR inhibition eventually lead to cell apoptosis. Notably, compared with the MTA agents CA-4P, and the TrxR inhibitor Ethaselen, the optimized compound 14c, which served as dual-targeting inhibitor of tubulin and TrxR, exerted greatly improved in vivo anti-tumor activity. In summary, 14c deserved further consideration for cancer therapy.