A cell type-selective apoptosis-inducing small molecule for the treatment of brain cancer

Analysis of cuproptosis-related genes in prognosis and immune infiltration in grade 4 diffuse gliomas

Background

Grade 4 diffuse gliomas are highly malignant tumours with poor prognosis. Cuproptosis is a novel form of cell death. Cuproptosis genes are associated with various tumours and affect the prognosis of patients with these tumours. However, the relationship between cuproptosis and grade 4 diffuse gliomas remains unclear.

Methods

Differentially expressed genes associated with cuproptosis in grade 4 diffuse gliomas were identified. Second, the prognostic model was established by univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses, and the genes (p < 0.05) were selected for subsequent analysis. The endpoint of the study was death. Single-gene analysis was performed in accordance with the expression levels of SLC31A1. Third, based on the expression levels of SLC31A1, gene function enrichment, drug sensitivity, and immune cell infiltration analyses were performed. Finally, the expression and biological functions of SLC31A1 in grade 4 diffuse gliomas were identified using immunohistochemical staining, qRT-PCR, and related biological experiments.

Results

We identified six coproptosis genes in the grade 4 diffuse gliomas dataset (SLC31A1, PDHA1, GLS, FDX1, LIPT1, and ATP7B). The six key cuproptosis genes of grade 4 diffuse gliomas were analysed using univariate COX analysis. Basic patient data, including age, race, year of diagnosis, sex, and treatment, were included in the univariate COX analysis. Then, multivariate COX analysis was performed for the factors with p < 0.2 in the univariate COX analysis. Age, year of diagnosis, and SLC31A1, PDHA1, and FDX1 levels were found to be independent prognostic factors. A nomogram was constructed using these 5 factors. Through experiments, we found that SLC31A1 had a higher expression level in cancer tissue than that near cancer among the three genes, SLC31A1, PDHA1, and FDX1; therefore, we focused on SLC31A1. According on the expression level of SLC31A1, we performed gene function enrichment, drug sensitivity, and immune cell infiltration analyses. Navitoclax was the most sensitive drug. Differential gene function enrichment was observed for metalloendopeptidase activity. SLC31A1 is expressed in dendritic cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and CD8+T cells. SLC31A1 is highly expressed in grade 4 diffuse gliomas, whereas SLC31A1 knockdown significantly reduces cell proliferation and mobility.

Conclusions

Age, year of diagnosis, and SLC31A1, PDHA1, and FDX1 expression were independent prognostic factors. A nomogram was constructed based on age, year of diagnosis, and SLC31A1, PDHA1, and FDX1 levels. Through analysis and experimental verification, SLC31A1 was found to affect the prognosis and progression of patients with grade 4 diffuse gliomas and was associated with immune cell infiltration.

Small Molecule Inhibitors Targeting the "Undruggable" Survivin: The Past, Present, and Future from a Medicinal Chemist's Perspective

Survivin, a homodimeric protein and a member of the IAP family, plays a vital function in cell survival and cycle progression by interacting with various proteins and complexes. Its expression is upregulated in cancers but not detectable in normal tissues. Thus, it has been regarded and validated as an ideal cancer target. However, survivin is "undruggable" due to its lack of enzymatic activities or active sites for small molecules to bind/inhibit. Academic and industrial laboratories have explored different strategies to overcome this hurdle over the past two decades, with some compounds advanced into clinical testing. These strategies include inhibiting survivin expression, its interaction with binding partners and homodimerization. Here, we provide comprehensive analyses of these strategies and perspective on different small molecule survivin inhibitors to help drug discovery targeting "undruggable" proteins in general and survivin specifically with a true survivin inhibitor that will prevail in the foreseeable future.

Receptor Interacting Ser/Thr-Protein Kinase 2 as a New Therapeutic Target

Receptor interacting serine/threonine protein kinase 2 (RIPK2) is a downstream signaling molecule essential for the activation of several innate immune receptors, including the NOD-like receptors (NOD1 and NOD2). Recognition of pathogen-associated molecular pattern proteins by NOD1/2 leads to their interaction with RIPK2, which induces release of pro-inflammatory cytokines through the activation of NF-κB and MAPK pathways, among others. Thus, RIPK2 has emerged as a key mediator of intracellular signal transduction and represents a new potential therapeutic target for the treatment of various conditions, including inflammatory diseases and cancer. In this Perspective, first, an overview of the mechanisms that underlie RIPK2 function will be presented along with its role in several diseases. Then, the existing inhibitors that target RIPK2 and different therapeutic strategies will be reviewed, followed by a discussion on current challenges and outlook.

RIPK2 inhibitors for disease therapy: Current status and perspectives

Receptor-interacting protein kinase 2 (RIPK2) belongs to the receptor-interacting protein family (RIPs), which is mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. RIPK2 is widely expressed in human tissues, and its mRNA level is highly expressed in the spleen, leukocytes, placenta, testis, and heart. RIPK2 is a dual-specificity kinase with multiple domains, which can interact with tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR), and participate in the Toll-like receptor (TLR) and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD) signaling pathways. It is considered as a vital adapter molecule involved in the innate immunity, adaptive immunity, and apoptosis. Functionally, RIPK2 and its targeted small molecules are of great significance in inflammatory responses, autoimmune diseases and tumors. The present study reviews the molecule structure and biological functions of RIPK2, and its correlation between human diseases. In addition, we focus on the structure-activity relationship of small molecule inhibitors of RIPK2 and their therapeutic potential in human diseases.

RIPK2: a promising target for cancer treatment

As an essential mediator of inflammation and innate immunity, the receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase-2 (RIPK2) is responsible for transducing signaling downstream of the intracellular peptidoglycan sensors nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors 1 and 2 (NOD1/2), which will further activate nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, leading to the transcription activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and productive inflammatory response. Thus, the NOD2-RIPK2 signaling pathway has attracted extensive attention due to its significant role in numerous autoimmune diseases, making pharmacologic RIPK2 inhibition a promising strategy, but little is known about its role outside the immune system. Recently, RIPK2 has been related to tumorigenesis and malignant progression for which there is an urgent need for targeted therapies. Herein, we would like to evaluate the feasibility of RIPK2 being the anti-tumor drug target and summarize the research progress of RIPK2 inhibitors. More importantly, following the above contents, we will analyze the possibility of applying small molecule RIPK2 inhibitors to anti-tumor therapy.

A Cell Type Selective YM155 Prodrug Targets Receptor-Interacting Protein Kinase 2 to Induce Brain Cancer Cell Death

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent and aggressive primary central nervous system (CNS) malignancy. YM155 is a highly potent broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug that was derived from a phenotypic screen for functional inhibitors of survivin expression, but for which the relevant biomolecular target remains unknown. Presumably as a result of its lack of cell-type selectivity, YM155 has suffered from tolerability issues in the clinic. Based on its structural similarity to the GBM-selective prodrug RIPGBM, here, we report the design, synthesis, and characterization of a prodrug form of YM155, termed aYM155. aYM155 displays potent cell killing activity against a broad panel of patient-derived GBM cancer stem-like cells (IC50 = 0.7-10 nM), as well as EGFR-amplified and EGFR variant III-expressing (EGFRvIII) cell lines (IC50 = 3.8-36 nM), and becomes activated in a cell-type-dependent manner. Mass spectrometry-based analysis indicates that enhanced cell-type selectivity results from relative rates of prodrug activation in transformed versus non-transformed cell types. The prodrug strategy also facilitates transport into the brain (brain-to-plasma ratio, aYM155 = 0.56; YM155 = BLQ). In addition, we determine that the survivin-suppressing and apoptosis-inducing activities of YM155 involve its interaction with receptor-interacting protein kinase 2 (RIPK2). In an orthotopic intracranial GBM xenograft model, aYM155 prodrug significantly inhibits brain tumor growth in vivo, which correlates with cell-type selective survivin-based pharmacodynamic effects.

Glioblastoma and the search for non-hypothesis driven combination therapeutics in academia

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains a cancer of high unmet clinical need. Current standard of care for GBM, consisting of maximal surgical resection, followed by ionisation radiation (IR) plus concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ), provides less than 15-month survival benefit. Efforts by conventional drug discovery to improve overall survival have failed to overcome challenges presented by inherent tumor heterogeneity, therapeutic resistance attributed to GBM stem cells, and tumor niches supporting self-renewal. In this review we describe the steps academic researchers are taking to address these limitations in high throughput screening programs to identify novel GBM combinatorial targets. We detail how they are implementing more physiologically relevant phenotypic assays which better recapitulate key areas of disease biology coupled with more focussed libraries of small compounds, such as drug repurposing, target discovery, pharmacologically active and novel, more comprehensive anti-cancer target-annotated compound libraries. Herein, we discuss the rationale for current GBM combination trials and the need for more systematic and transparent strategies for identification, validation and prioritisation of combinations that lead to clinical trials. Finally, we make specific recommendations to the preclinical, small compound screening paradigm that could increase the likelihood of identifying tractable, combinatorial, small molecule inhibitors and better drug targets specific to GBM.

Pyroptosis-related prognosis model, immunocyte infiltration characterization, and competing endogenous RNA network of glioblastoma

Background

Glioblastoma (GBM) has a high incidence rate, invasive growth, and easy recurrence, and the current therapeutic effect is less than satisfying. Pyroptosis plays an important role in morbidity and progress of GBM. Meanwhile, the tumor microenvironment (TME) is involved in the progress and treatment tolerance of GBM. In the present study, we analyzed prognosis model, immunocyte infiltration characterization, and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network of GBM on the basis of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs).

Methods

The transcriptome and clinical data of 155 patients with GBM and 120 normal subjects were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx). Lasso (Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) Cox expression analysis was used in predicting prognostic markers, and its predictive ability was tested using a nomogram. A prognostic risk score formula was constructed, and CIBERSORT, ssGSEA algorithm, Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER), and TISIDB database were used in evaluating the immunocyte infiltration characterization and tumor immune response of differential risk samples. A ceRNA network was constructed with Starbase, mirtarbase, and lncbase, and the mechanism of this regulatory axis was explored using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA).

Results

Five PRGs (CASP3, NLRP2, TP63, GZMB, and CASP9) were identified as the independent prognostic biomarkers of GBM. Prognostic risk score formula analysis showed that the low-risk group had obvious survival advantage compared with the high-risk group, and significant differences in immunocyte infiltration and immune related function score were found. In addition, a ceRNA network of messenger RNA (CASP3, TP63)–microRNA (hsa-miR-519c-5p)–long noncoding RNA (GABPB1-AS1) was established. GSEA analysis showed that the regulatory axis played a considerable role in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and immune inflammatory response.

Conclusions

Pyroptosis and TME-related independent prognostic markers were screened in this study, and a prognosis risk score formula was established for the first time according to the prognosis PRGs. TME immunocyte infiltration characterization and immune response were assessed using ssGSEA, CIBERSORT algorithm, TIMER, and TISIDB database. Besides a ceRNA network was built up. This study not only laid foundations for further exploring pyroptosis and TME in improving prognosis of GBM, but also provided a new idea for more effective guidance on clinical immunotherapy to patients and developing new immunotherapeutic drugs.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09706-x.

Identification and Validation of Inflammatory Response-Related Gene Signatures to Predict the Prognosis of Neuroblastoma

Background. Neuroblastoma (NB) is the third most common malignant tumor in children. The inflammation is believed to be closely related to NB patients’ prognosis. However, there is no comprehensive research to study the role of inflammatory response-related gene (IRRG) in NB patients. Methods. We downloaded the gene expression profiles of NB patients from GEO and TARGET database, and the expression of 200 IRRGs was extracted. Then, we performed differentially analysis between INSS stage 4 and INSS stage 4S NB patients. The univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to screen out the overall survival- (OS-) and event-free survival- (EFS-) related IRRGs in GSE49710, and two signatures were constructed; both signatures were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival curve and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Finally, the TARGET cohort was used to validate IRRG signatures, and the independence of the prognostic IRRG signatures was evaluated by integrating clinical information. Results. We screened out 10 OS-related IRRGs and 11 EFS-related IRRGs. Then, we identified that OS- and EFS-related IRRG signatures and found that the OS and EFS of NB patients in the low-risk group were significantly superior than those in the high-risk group (both $P$ value < 0.0001). The AUC values of 3-, 5-, and 7-year OS are 0.910, 0.933, and 0.921, respectively, and 3-, 5-, and 7-year EFS are 0.840, 0.835, and 0.837, respectively. In addition, we found that both IRRG signatures can be used as independent prognostic indicators for patients with NB. Both IRRG signatures still have good predictive ability in validation cohort. Conclusions. We constructed and validated two prognostic gene signatures based on IRRGs. Our study helped us to better understand the role of inflammation in NB and provided new insights for the prognosis assessment and treatment strategy for NB patients.

Molecular Subtypes and Prognostic Signature of Pyroptosis-Related lncRNAs in Glioma Patients

The relationship between pyroptosis-related long non-coding RNAs (pyroptosis-related lncRNAs) and glioma prognosis have not been studied clearly. Basing on The Cancer Genome Atlas and The Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas datasets, we firstly identified 23 pyroptosis-related lncRNAs with Pearson coefficient |r| > 0.5 and p < 0.001. The survival probability was lower in cluster 1. 13 lncRNAs was included into signature and divided all the glioma patients into two groups, among which survival probability of the high-risk group was lower than that in low-risk group (P<0.001). The risk score was higher in the age>60, dead grade 3, cluster 1 and immune score high groups. Furthermore, subgroup analysis showed patients with different grades, IDH and 1p19ql state distinguished by the median of risk score had different survival probability. Risk score was one of independent factors for glioma prognosis, and 1-, 3-, 5-years survival were calculated in nomogram. Meanwhile, the same as the median risk score in TCGA cohort, the glioma patients from CGGA were categorized into two groups and validated the outcome mentioned above(P<0.01). GO and KEGG analysis revealed the immunity process of the targeted genes. Thus, the immune filtration we compared showed naive B cell, resting dendritic cells, activated NK cells, activated Mast cells, monocytes are higher in low-risk group. Moreover, level of the activated NK cells, M0-and M1 Macrophages was in positive relationship with the risk score. Besides, competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network display interaction among microRNA, lncRNAs and their targeted genes. Pyroptosis-related lncRNAs could be a dependent prognosis factor and maybe linked to the immune response in glioma. This prognosis signature had potential value in estimate the survival of the patients with glioma.

Netrin-like domain of sFRP4, a Wnt antagonist inhibits stemness, metastatic and invasive properties by specifically blocking MMP-2 in cancer stem cells from human glioma cell line U87MG

Rapid proliferation, high stemness potential, high invasiveness and apoptotic evasion are the distinctive hallmarks of glioma malignancy. The dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is the key factor regulating glioma malignancy. Wnt antagonist, secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (sFRP4), which has a prominent pro-apoptotic role in glioma stem cells, has two functional domains, the netrin-like domain (NLD), and cysteine-rich domain (CRD) both of which contribute to apoptotic properties of the whole protein. However, there are no reports elucidating the specific effects of individual domains of sFRP4 in inhibiting the invasive properties of glioma. This study explores the efficacy of the domains of sFRP4 in inhibiting the key hallmarks of glioblastoma such as invasion, metastasis, and stemness. We overexpressed sFRP4 and its domains in the glioblastoma cell line, U87MG cells and observed that both CRD and NLD domains played prominent roles in attenuating cancer stem cell properties. Significantly, we could demonstrate for the first time that both NLD and CRD domains negatively impacted the key driver of metastasis and migration, the matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2). Mechanistically, compared to CRD, NLD domain suppressed MMP-2 mediated invasion more effectively in glioma cells as observed in matrigel invasion assay and a function-blocking antibody assay. Fluorescent matrix degradation assay further revealed that NLD reduces matrix degradation. NLD also significantly disrupted fibronectin assembly and decreased cell adhesion in another glioma cell line LN229. In conclusion, the NLD peptide of sFRP4 could be a potent short peptide therapeutic candidate for targeting MMP-2-mediated invasion in the highly malignant glioblastoma multiforme.

Limb-bud and heart development (LBH) contributes to glioma progression in vitro and in vivo

Glioma is the predominant brain malignancy and is correlated with high mortality and severe morbidity. The transcription factor limb‐bud and heart (LBH) has been reported to be involved in the development of several cancers, although its role in glioma development remains elusive. Here, we examined the effect of LBH on glioma progression. The expression of LBH was increased in glioma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and upregulation of LBH was observed to be correlated with the poor survival of glioma patients. We also report that expression of LBH was elevated in clinical glioma tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues, and was also enhanced in glioma cell lines. LBH promotes proliferation and inhibits cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in glioma cells. In addition, LBH increased the migration and invasion of glioma cells in vitro. Moreover, tumorigenicity analysis revealed that LBH could promote the tumor growth of glioma cells in vivo. In conclusion, our findings suggest that LBH contributes to glioma progression in vitro and in vivo. Our findings provide new insights into the mechanism by which LBH promotes the development of glioma, improving our understanding of the correlation between LBH with cancer. LBH may have potential as a target for glioma therapy.

Chemoproteomic-enabled phenotypic screening

The ID of disease-modifying, chemically accessible targets remains a central priority of modern therapeutic discovery. The phenotypic screening of small-molecule libraries not only represents an attractive approach to identify compounds that may serve as drug leads but also serves as an opportunity to uncover compounds with novel mechanisms of action (MoAs). However, a major bottleneck of phenotypic screens continues to be the ID of pharmacologically relevant target(s) for compounds of interest. The field of chemoproteomics aims to map proteome-wide small-molecule interactions in complex, native systems, and has proved a key technology to unravel the protein targets of pharmacological modulators. In this review, we discuss the application of modern chemoproteomic methods to identify protein targets of phenotypic screening hits and investigate MoAs, with a specific focus on the development of chemoproteomic-enabled compound libraries to streamline target discovery.

Valproic Acid Enhanced Apoptosis by Promoting Autophagy Via Akt/mTOR Signaling in Glioma

Glioma is the most common malignant tumor in the central nervous system with a poor median survival. Valproic acid (VPA), a widely used antiepileptic drug, has been found to have antitumor effects on gliomas, but its role still has not been determined. In this study, we investigated VPA-induced apoptotic and autophagic effects on human U251 and SNB19 cells by cell counting kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling staining, western blots, and immunofluorescence assay in vitro, and then we further explored the role of autophagy in apoptosis by using the selective antagonist MHY1485. The data showed that VPA inhibited U251 and SNB19 glioma cells viability in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner and induced apoptosis through the mitochondria-dependent pathway in vitro. In addition, VPA activated the Akt/mTOR pathway by decreasing their protein phosphorylation to promote cellular apoptosis. Surprisingly, the mTOR agonist MHY1485, causing a strong elevation of mTOR activity, partially reduced apoptosis ratio, which supposing that the autophagy of VPA is involved in the regulation of apoptosis. These findings suggest that VPA enhanced apoptosis by promoting autophagy via Akt/mTOR signaling in glioma, which could be further evaluated as a reliable therapy for glioma.

Cancer Stem Cell (CSC) Inhibitors in Oncology-A Promise for a Better Therapeutic Outcome: State of the Art and Future Perspectives

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subpopulation of cancer cells endowed with self-renewal, tumorigenicity, pluripotency, chemoresistance, differentiation, invasive ability, and plasticity, reside in specialized tumor niches and are responsible for tumor maintenance, metastasis, therapy resistance, and tumor relapse. The new-age "hierarchical or CSC" model of tumor heterogeneity is based on the concept of eradicating CSCs to prevent tumor relapse and therapy resistance. Small-molecular entities and biologics acting on various stemness signaling pathways, surface markers, efflux transporters, or components of complex tumor microenvironment are under intense investigation as potential anti-CSC agents. In addition, smart nanotherapeutic tools have proved their utility in achieving CSC targeting. Several CSC inhibitors in clinical development have shown promise, either as mono- or combination therapy, in refractory and difficult-to-treat cancers. Clinical investigations with CSC marker follow-up as a measure of clinical efficacy are needed to turn the "hype" into the "hope" these new-age oncology therapeutics have to offer.

A computational guided, functional validation of a novel therapeutic antibody proposes Notch signaling as a clinical relevant and druggable target in glioma

The Notch signaling network determines stemness in various tissues and targeting signaling activity in malignant brain cancers by gamma-secretase inhibitors (GSI) has shown promising preclinical success. However, the clinical translation remains challenging due to severe toxicity side effects and emergence of therapy resistance. Better anti-Notch directed therapies, specifically directed against the tumor promoting Notch receptor 1 signaling framework, and biomarkers predicting response to such therapy are of highest clinical need. We assessed multiple patient datasets to probe the clinical relevance Notch1 activation and possible differential distribution amongst molecular subtypes in brain cancers. We functionally assessed the biological effects of the first-in-human tested blocking antibody against Notch1 receptor (brontictuzumab, BRON) in a collection of glioma stem-like cell (GSC) models and compared its effects to genetic Notch1 inhibition as well as classical pharmacological Notch inhibitor treatment using gamma-secretase inhibitor MRK003. We also assess effects on Wingless (WNT) stem cell signaling activation, which includes the interrogation of genetic WNT inhibition models. Our computed transcriptional Notch pathway activation score is upregulated in neural stem cells, as compared to astrocytes; as well as in GSCs, as compared to differentiated glioblastoma cells. Moreover, the Notch signature is clinical predictive in our glioblastoma patient discovery and validation cohort. Notch signature is significantly increased in tumors with mutant IDH1 genome and tumors without 1p and 19q co-deletion. In GSCs with elevated Notch1 expression, BRON treatment blocks transcription of Notch pathway target genes Hes1/Hey1, significantly reduced the amount of cleaved Notch1 receptor protein and caused significantly impairment of cellular invasion. Benchmarking this phenotype to those observed with genetic Notch1 inhibition in corresponding cell models did result in higher reduction of cell invasion under chemotherapy. BRON treatment caused signs of upregulation of Wingless (WNT) stem cell signaling activity, and vice versa, blockage of WNT signaling caused induction of Notch target gene expression in our models. We extend the list of evidences that elevated Notch signal expression is a biomarker signature declaring stem cell prevalence and useful for predicting negative clinical course in glioblastoma. By using functional assays, we validated a first in man tested Notch1 receptor specific antibody as a promising drug candidate in the context of neuro oncology and propose biomarker panel to predict resistance and therapy success of this treatment option. We note that the observed phenotype seems only in part due to Notch1 blockage and the drug candidate leads to activation of off target signals. Further studies addressing a possible emergence of therapy resistance due to WNT activation need to be conducted. We further validated our 3D disease modeling technology to be of benefit for drug development projects.

Modulating microenvironments for treating glioblastoma

Purpose of review

This review focuses on the development and progression of glioblastoma through the brain and glioma microenvironment. Specifically we highlight how the tumor microenvironment contributes to the hallmarks of cancer in hopes of offering novel therapeutic options and tools to target this microenvironment.

Recent findings

The hallmarks of cancer, which represent elements of cancers that contribute to the disease's malignancy, yet elements within the brain tumor microenvironment, such as other cellular types as well as biochemical and biophysical cues that can each uniquely affect tumor cells, have not been well-described in this context and serve as potential targets for modulation.

Summary

Here, we highlight how the brain tumor microenvironment contributes to the progression and therapeutic response of tumor cells. Specifically, we examine these contributions through the lens of Hanahan & Weinberg's Hallmarks of Cancer in order to identify potential novel targets within the brain that may offer a means to treat brain cancers, including the deadliest brain cancer, glioblastoma.

Antitumor effect of TW-37, a BH3 mimetic in human oral cancer

TW-37 is a small molecule B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) homology 3 mimetic with potential anticancer activities. However, the in vivo anti-cancer effect of TW-37 in human oral cancer has not been properly studied yet. Here, we attempted to confirm antitumor activity of TW37 in human oral cancer. TW-37 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased the number of dead cells in MC-3 and HSC-3 human oral cancer cell lines. TW-37 enhanced apoptosis of both cell lines evidenced by annexin V/propidium iodide double staining, sub-G₁ population analysis and the detection of cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and caspase-3. In addition, TW-37 markedly downregulated the expression of Bcl-2 protein, while not affecting Bcl-xL or myeloid cell leukemia-1. In vivo, TW-37 inhibited tumor growth in a nude mice xenograft model without any significant liver and kidney toxicities. Collectively, these data reveal that TW-37 may be a promising small molecule to inhibit human oral cancer.

System-based approaches as prognostic tools for glioblastoma

BACKGROUND

The evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer. Understanding this process holistically and overcoming apoptosis resistance is a goal of many research teams in order to develop better treatment options for cancer patients. Efforts are also ongoing to personalize the treatment of patients. Strategies to confirm the therapeutic efficacy of current treatments or indeed to identify potential novel additional options would be extremely beneficial to both clinicians and patients. In the past few years, system medicine approaches have been developed that model the biochemical pathways of apoptosis. These systems tools incorporate and analyse the complex biological networks involved. For their successful integration into clinical practice, it is mandatory to integrate systems approaches with routine clinical and histopathological practice to deliver personalized care for patients.

RESULTS

We review here the development of system medicine approaches that model apoptosis for the treatment of cancer with a specific emphasis on the aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma.

CONCLUSIONS

We discuss the current understanding in the field and present new approaches that highlight the potential of system medicine approaches to influence how glioblastoma is diagnosed and treated in the future.