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Al-Hamaly MA, Cox AH, Haney MG, Zhang W, Arvin EC, Sampathi S, Wimsett M, Liu C, Blackburn JS. Zebrafish drug screening identifies Erlotinib as an inhibitor of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and self-renewal in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Biomed Pharmacother 2024; 170:116013. [PMID: 38104416 PMCID: PMC10833092 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2023.116013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The Wnt/β-catenin pathway's significance in cancer initiation, progression, and stem cell biology underscores its therapeutic potential. However, the clinical application of Wnt inhibitors remains limited due to challenges posed by off-target effects and complex cross-talk of Wnt signaling with other pathways. In this study, we leveraged a zebrafish model to perform a robust and rapid drug screening of 773 FDA-approved compounds to identify Wnt/β-catenin inhibitors with minimal toxicity. Utilizing zebrafish expressing a Wnt reporter, we identified several drugs that suppressed Wnt signaling without compromising zebrafish development. The efficacy of the top hit, Erlotinib, extended to human cells, where it blocked Wnt/β-catenin signaling downstream of the destruction complex. Notably, Erlotinib treatment reduced self-renewal in human T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia cells, which rely on active β-catenin signaling for maintenance of leukemia-initiating cells. Erlotinib also reduced leukemia-initiating cell frequency and delayed disease formation in zebrafish models. This study underscores zebrafish's translational potential in drug discovery and repurposing and highlights a new use for Erlotinib as a Wnt inhibitor for cancers driven by aberrant Wnt/β-catenin signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Majd A Al-Hamaly
- Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States; Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States
| | - Anna H Cox
- College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States; Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States
| | - Meghan G Haney
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, United States
| | - Wen Zhang
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States
| | - Emma C Arvin
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States
| | - Shilpa Sampathi
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States
| | - Mary Wimsett
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, United States
| | - Chunming Liu
- Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States; Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States
| | - Jessica S Blackburn
- Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States; Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, United States.
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Al-Hamaly MA, Cox AH, Haney MG, Zhang W, Arvin EC, Sampathi S, Wimsett M, Liu C, Blackburn JS. Zebrafish Drug Screening Identifies Erlotinib as an Inhibitor of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling and Self-Renewal in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.28.555200. [PMID: 37693603 PMCID: PMC10491167 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.28.555200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
The Wnt/β-catenin pathway's significance in cancer initiation, progression, and stem cell biology underscores its therapeutic potential, yet clinical application of Wnt inhibitors remains limited due to challenges posed by off-target effects and complex crosstalk with other pathways. In this study, we leveraged the zebrafish model to perform a robust and rapid drug screening of 773 FDA-approved compounds to identify Wnt/β-catenin inhibitors with minimal toxicity. Utilizing zebrafish expressing a Wnt reporter, we identified several drugs that suppressed Wnt signaling without compromising zebrafish development. The efficacy of the top hit, Erlotinib, extended to human cells, where it blocked Wnt/β-catenin signaling downstream of the destruction complex. Notably, Erlotinib treatment reduced self-renewal in human T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia cells, which are known to rely on active β-catenin signaling for maintenance of leukemia-initiating cells. Erlotinib also reduced leukemia-initiating cell frequency and delayed disease formation in zebrafish models. This study underscores zebrafish's translational potential in drug discovery and repurposing, and highlights a new use for Erlotinib as a Wnt inhibitor for cancers driven by aberrant Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Highlights Zebrafish-based drug screening offers an inexpensive and robust platform for identifying compounds with high efficacy and low toxicity in vivo . Erlotinib, an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, emerged as a potent and promising Wnt inhibitor with effects in both zebrafish and human cell-based Wnt reporter assays.The identification of Erlotinib as a Wnt inhibitor underscores the value of repurposed drugs in developing targeted therapies to disrupt cancer stemness and improve clinical outcomes.
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Hason M, Jovicic J, Vonkova I, Bojic M, Simon-Vermot T, White RM, Bartunek P. Bioluminescent Zebrafish Transplantation Model for Drug Discovery. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:893655. [PMID: 35559262 PMCID: PMC9086674 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.893655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In the last decade, zebrafish have accompanied the mouse as a robust animal model for cancer research. The possibility of screening small-molecule inhibitors in a large number of zebrafish embryos makes this model particularly valuable. However, the dynamic visualization of fluorescently labeled tumor cells needs to be complemented by a more sensitive, easy, and rapid mode for evaluating tumor growth in vivo to enable high-throughput screening of clinically relevant drugs. In this study we proposed and validated a pre-clinical screening model for drug discovery by utilizing bioluminescence as our readout for the determination of transplanted cancer cell growth and inhibition in zebrafish embryos. For this purpose, we used NanoLuc luciferase, which ensured rapid cancer cell growth quantification in vivo with high sensitivity and low background when compared to conventional fluorescence measurements. This allowed us large-scale evaluation of in vivo drug responses of 180 kinase inhibitors in zebrafish. Our bioluminescent screening platform could facilitate identification of new small-molecules for targeted cancer therapy as well as for drug repurposing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Hason
- Laboratory of Cell Differentiation, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
| | - Jovana Jovicic
- Laboratory of Cell Differentiation, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
| | - Ivana Vonkova
- CZ-OPENSCREEN, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
| | - Milan Bojic
- CZ-OPENSCREEN, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
| | - Theresa Simon-Vermot
- Department of Cancer Biology & Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Richard M. White
- Department of Cancer Biology & Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Petr Bartunek
- Laboratory of Cell Differentiation, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
- CZ-OPENSCREEN, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
- *Correspondence: Petr Bartunek,
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