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Hassan AF, Hussein O, Al-Barazenji T, Allouch A, Kamareddine L, Malki A, Moustafa AA, Khalil A. The effect of novel nitrogen-based chalcone analogs on colorectal cancer cells: Insight into the molecular pathways. Heliyon 2024; 10:e27002. [PMID: 38463818 PMCID: PMC10923686 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024] Open
Abstract
In colorectal cancer (CRC), aberrations in KRAS are associated with aggressive tumorigenesis and an overall low survival rate because of chemoresistance and adverse effects. Ergo, complementary, and integrative medicines are being considered for CRC treatment. Among which is the use of natural chalcones that are known to exhibit anti-tumor activities in KRAS mutant CRC subtypes treatment regimens. Consequently, we examine the effect of two novel compounds (DK13 and DK14) having chalcones with nitrogen mustard moiety on CRC cell lines (HCT-116 and LoVo) with KRAS mutation. These compounds were synthesized in our lab and previously reported to exhibit potent activity against breast cancer cells. Our data revealed that DK13 and DK14 treatment suppress cell growth, disturb the progression of cell cycle, and trigger apoptosis in CRC cell lines. Besides, treatment with both compounds impedes cell invasion and colony formation in both cell lines as compared to 5-FU; this is accompanied by up and down regulations of E-cadherin and Vimentin, respectively. At the molecular level, both compounds deregulate the expression and phosphorylation of β-catenin, Akt and mTOR, which are the main likely molecular mechanisms underlying these biological occurrences. Our findings present DK13 and DK14 as novel chemotherapies against CRC, through β-catenin/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arij Fouzat Hassan
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ola Hussein
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Tara Al-Barazenji
- Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Asma Allouch
- Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Layla Kamareddine
- Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- Biomedical Research Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ahmed Malki
- Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ala‐Eddin Al Moustafa
- Biomedical Research Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- Oncology Department, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Ashraf Khalil
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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Lamichhane A, Luker GD, Agarwal S, Tavana H. Inhibiting BRAF/EGFR/MEK suppresses cancer stemness and drug resistance of primary colorectal cancer cells. Oncotarget 2023; 14:879-889. [PMID: 37791907 PMCID: PMC10549774 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.28517] [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: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Drug resistance is a major barrier against successful treatments of cancer patients. Gain of stemness under drug pressure is a major mechanism that renders treatments ineffective. Identifying approaches to target cancer stem cells (CSCs) is expected to improve treatment outcomes for patients. To elucidate the role of cancer stemness in resistance of colorectal cancer cells to targeted therapies, we developed spheroid cultures of patient-derived BRAFmut and KRASmut tumor cells and studied resistance mechanisms to inhibition of MAPK pathway through phenotypic and gene and protein expression analysis. We found that treatments enriched the expression of CSC markers CD166, ALDH1A3, CD133, and LGR5 and activated PI3K/Akt pathway in cancer cells. We examined various combination treatments to block these activities and found that a triple combination against BRAF, EGFR, and MEK significantly reduced stemness and activities of oncogenic signaling pathways. This study demonstrates the feasibility of blocking stemness-mediated drug resistance and tumorigenic activities in colorectal cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Astha Lamichhane
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA
| | - Gary D. Luker
- Department of Radiology, Microbiology and Immunology, Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA
| | - Seema Agarwal
- Department of Pathology, Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007, USA
| | - Hossein Tavana
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA
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Jones D, Whitehead CA, Dinevska M, Widodo SS, Furst LM, Morokoff AP, Kaye AH, Drummond KJ, Mantamadiotis T, Stylli SS. Repurposing FDA-approved drugs as inhibitors of therapy-induced invadopodia activity in glioblastoma cells. Mol Cell Biochem 2023; 478:1251-1267. [PMID: 36302993 PMCID: PMC10164021 DOI: 10.1007/s11010-022-04584-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent primary central nervous system tumour in adults. The lethality of GBM lies in its highly invasive, infiltrative, and neurologically destructive nature resulting in treatment failure, tumour recurrence and death. Even with current standard of care treatment with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, surviving tumour cells invade throughout the brain. We have previously shown that this invasive phenotype is facilitated by actin-rich, membrane-based structures known as invadopodia. The formation and matrix degrading activity of invadopodia is enhanced in GBM cells that survive treatment. Drug repurposing provides a means of identifying new therapeutic applications for existing drugs without the need for discovery or development and the associated time for clinical implementation. We investigate several FDA-approved agents for their ability to act as both cytotoxic agents in reducing cell viability and as 'anti-invadopodia' agents in GBM cell lines. Based on their cytotoxicity profile, three agents were selected, bortezomib, everolimus and fludarabine, to test their effect on GBM cell invasion. All three drugs reduced radiation/temozolomide-induced invadopodia activity, in addition to reducing GBM cell viability. These drugs demonstrate efficacious properties warranting further investigation with the potential to be implemented as part of the treatment regime for GBM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan Jones
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
| | - Clarissa A Whitehead
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
| | - Marija Dinevska
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
| | - Samuel S Widodo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia
| | - Liam M Furst
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia
| | - Andrew P Morokoff
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
- Department of Neurosurgery, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
| | - Andrew H Kaye
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
- Hadassah University Medical Centre, 91120, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Katharine J Drummond
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
- Department of Neurosurgery, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
| | - Theo Mantamadiotis
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia
| | - Stanley S Stylli
- Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia.
- Department of Neurosurgery, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3050, Australia.
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Lamichhane A, Shahi Thakuri P, Singh S, Rafsanjani Nejad P, Heiss J, Luker GD, Tavana H. Therapeutic Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells Prevents Resistance of Colorectal Cancer Cells to MEK Inhibition. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci 2022; 5:724-734. [PMID: 36110381 PMCID: PMC9469186 DOI: 10.1021/acsptsci.1c00257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Drug resistance is a leading cause for the failure of cancer treatments. Plasticity of cancer cells to acquire stem cell-like properties enables them to escape drug toxicity through different adaptive mechanisms. Eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) can potentially improve treatment outcomes for patients. To determine the role of CSCs in resistance of colorectal cancer cells to targeted therapies and identify treatment strategies, we treated spheroids of BRAFmut and KRASmut colorectal cancer cells with inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and studied resistance mechanisms through gene and protein expression analyses. We found that treatments activated several oncogenic pathways and expression of CSC markers CD166 and ALDH1A3. We identified a specific combination treatment using trametinib and mithramycin A to simultaneously inhibit the CSC phenotype and activities of several pathways in cancer cells. This study demonstrates the feasibility of therapeutic targeting of CSCs as a strategy to block tumorigenic activities of cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Astha Lamichhane
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, The University
of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Pradip Shahi Thakuri
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, The University
of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Sunil Singh
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, The University
of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Pouria Rafsanjani Nejad
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, The University
of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Jacob Heiss
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, The University
of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Gary D. Luker
- Department
of Radiology, Microbiology and Immunology, Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105, United States
| | - Hossein Tavana
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, The University
of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
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Lamichhane A, Thakuri PS, Rafsanjani Nejad P, Tavana H. Modeling adaptive drug resistance of colorectal cancer and therapeutic interventions with tumor spheroids. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2021; 246:2372-2380. [PMID: 34102903 DOI: 10.1177/15353702211014185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Drug resistance is a major barrier against successful treatments of cancer patients. Various intrinsic mechanisms and adaptive responses of tumor cells to cancer drugs often lead to failure of treatments and tumor relapse. Understanding mechanisms of cancer drug resistance is critical to develop effective treatments with sustained anti-tumor effects. Three-dimensional cultures of cancer cells known as spheroids present a biologically relevant model of avascular tumors and have been increasingly incorporated in tumor biology and cancer drug discovery studies. In this review, we discuss several recent studies from our group that utilized colorectal tumor spheroids to investigate responses of cancer cells to cytotoxic and molecularly targeted drugs and uncover mechanisms of drug resistance. We highlight our findings from both short-term, one-time treatments and long-term, cyclic treatments of tumor spheroids and discuss mechanisms of adaptation of cancer cells to the treatments. Guided by mechanisms of resistance, we demonstrate the feasibility of designing specific drug combinations to effectively block growth and resistance of cancer cells in spheroid cultures. Finally, we conclude with our perspectives on the utility of three-dimensional tumor models and their shortcomings and advantages for phenotypic and mechanistic studies of cancer drug resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Astha Lamichhane
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA
| | - Pradip Shahi Thakuri
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA
| | | | - Hossein Tavana
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA
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