ERK mediated upregulation of death receptor 5 overcomes the lack of p53 functionality in the diaminothiazole DAT1 induced apoptosis in colon cancer models: efficiency of DAT1 in Ras-Raf mutated cells

Thiazole, Isatin and Phthalimide Derivatives Tested in vivo against Cancer Models: A Literature Review of the Last Six Years

BACKGROUND

Cancer is a disease characterized by the abnormal multiplication of cells and is the second leading cause of death in the world. The search for new effective and safe anticancer compounds is ongoing due to factors such as low selectivity, high toxicity, and multidrug resistance. Thus, heterocyclic compounds derived from isatin, thiazole and phthalimide that have achieved promising in vitro anticancer activity have been tested in vivo and in clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE

This review focused on the compilation of promising data from thiazole, isatin, and phthalimide derivatives, reported in the literature between 2015 and 2022, with in vivo anticancer activity and clinical trials.

METHODS

A bibliographic search was carried out in the PUBMED, MEDLINE, ELSEVIER, and CAPES PERIODIC databases, selecting relevant works for each pharmacophoric group with in vivo antitumor activity in the last 6 years.

RESULTS

In our study, 68 articles that fit the scope were selected and critically analyzed. These articles were organized considering the type of antitumor activity and their year of publication. Some compounds reported here demonstrated potent antitumor activity against several tumor types.

CONCLUSION

This review allowed us to highlight works that reported promising structures for the treatment of various cancer types and also demonstrated that the privileged structures thiazole, isatin and phthalimide are important in the design of new syntheses and molecular optimization of compounds with antitumor activity.

Overview of the oncogenic signaling pathways in colorectal cancer: Mechanistic insights

Colorectal cancer is a multifaceted disease which is therapeutically challenging. Based on insights gleaned from almost a quarter century of research, it is obvious that deregulation of spatio-temporally controlled signaling pathways play instrumental role in development and progression of colorectal cancer. High-throughput technologies have helped to develop a sharper and broader understanding of the wide ranging signal transduction cascades which also contribute to development of drug resistance, loss of apoptosis and, ultimately, of metastasis. In this review, we have set the spotlight on role of JAK/STAT, TGF/SMAD, Notch, WNT/β-Catenin, SHH/GLI and p53 pathways in the development and progression of colorectal cancer. We have also highlighted recent reports on TRAIL-mediated pathways and molecularly distinct voltage-gated sodium channels in colorectal cancer.

N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 promotes apoptosis in colorectal cancer via up-regulating death receptor 4

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and to explore the mechanisms governing the role of NDRG1 in apoptosis of CRC cells. In the current study, we found that NDRG1 was a prognostic marker of CRC patients. Moreover, NDRG1 expression negatively correlated to tumor size and clinical TNM stage, suggesting that NDRG1 might act as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting proliferation or inducing apoptosis in CRC. Consistently, substantial apoptosis was observed in vitro and in vivo in the presence of NDRG1. From a mechanistic standpoint, we discovered that NDRG1 was able to prevent death receptor 4 from degradation induced by MARCH-8, a member of the membrane-associated RING-CH (MARCH) ubiquitin ligase family. As a consequence, CRC cells expressing NDRG1 were more sensitive to reagents targeting death receptors such as tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligands (TRAIL). Additionally, the pro-apoptotic effect of NDRG1 was also validated in mouse xenograft model. In conclusion, our results provided further insights of the pivotal role of NDRG1 in apoptosis initiated by death receptors and demonstrated a novel marker to predict the sensitivity of CRC to TRAIL treatment in future clinical study.