Enhancement of the antitumor effect of 5-fluorouracil with modulation in drug transporters expression using PI3K inhibitors in colorectal cancer cells

Naturally based pyrazoline derivatives as aminopeptidase N, VEGFR2 and MMP9 inhibitors: design, synthesis and molecular modeling

Aminopeptidase N (APN) is regarded as an attractive target for cancer treatment due to its overexpression in various types of malignancies and its close association with cancer angiogenesis, metastasis and invasion. Herein the authors describe the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of some naturally based pyrazoline derivatives. Among these compounds, the diphenylpyrazole carbothioamide 8 showed significant activity and selectivity index (SI = 4.7) on breast (MCF-7) human cancer cell line and was capable of inhibiting APN with pIC50 value of 4.8, comparable to the reference standard. Further evaluation of derivative 8 against VEGFR2 and MMP9 as biomarkers for angiogenesis and invasion showed that the selected compound had an inhibitory activity on both proteins with pIC50 values of 6.7 and 6.4, respectively. Additionally, the migration ability of cells following treatment with the diphenylpyrazole derivative decreased to record a percentage wound closure of 57.77 for compound 8versus 97.03 for the control. The promising derivative arrested cell growth at the G1 phase inducing early and late apoptosis. Finally, docking and ADMET in silico studies were performed.

Triacanthine enhances the sensitivity of colorectal cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil by regulating RRM2

BACKGROUND

According to the literatures, triacanthine is isolated from the leaves of Gleditsia triacanthos L. and acts as an anti-hypertensive agent, also cardiotonic, antispasmodic and a respiratory analeptic. The 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used to treat the patients of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the resistance to 5-FU treatment restricts the therapeutic efficacy of CRC patients.

PURPOSE

This study aims to explore a novel therapeutics regimen overcoming CRC resistance to 5-FU.

METHODS

The cell proliferation of CRC cells was determined by SRB and colony formation assay. Transwell and wound-healing assay were applied to explore the potential metastatic abilities of CRC cells. qRT-PCR and Western blot were performed to evaluate the level of indicated mRNAs and proteins respectively. Xenograft assay was used to explore the anti-CRC effect of triacanthine.

RESULTS

Triacanthine statistically restrained CRC proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Triacanthine induced cell cycle G1/G0 phase arrest in CRC cells. Meanwhile, triacanthine also inhibited the migrative and invasive abilities of CRC cells. A Venn diagram was generated showing that O-6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase (MGMT) might be a molecular target of triacanthine in treating CRC. Furthermore, triacanthine plus 5-FU significantly suppressed the cell proliferation of CRC cells compared with single agent treatment alone, and highly synergistic anti-cancer effects were scored when 5-FU was combined with triacanthine in CRC cells. In addition, triacanthine sensitized the anti-cancer activity of 5-FU via regulating Ribonucleotide Reductase Regulatory Subunit M2 (RRM2). MGMT or RRM2 might be novel biomarkers for evaluating the therapeutical efficiency of 5-FU in CRC patients.

CONCLUSION

We firstly demonstrated triacanthine suppressed cell proliferation and metastasis abilities and found the novel molecular targets of triacanthine in CRC cells. This is the first study to evaluate the anti-cancer efficiency of triacanthine plus 5-FU. Our study has revealed triacanthine as a pertinent sensitizer to 5-FU, and provided novel strategies for predicting outcomes and reversing resistance of 5-FU therapy.