Decyl caffeic acid inhibits the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells in an autophagy-dependent manner in vitro and in vivo

Semi-synthesis of phenolic-amides and their cytotoxicity against THP-1, HeLa, HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines

In the present study, we derivatized several hydroxycinnamic and hydroxybenzoic acids to phenolic amides (PAMs) via one step BOP mediated amide coupling reactions. Fifteen PAMs were synthesized in >40% yields and were screened for their cytotoxic activities against four cancer cell lines: THP-1 (leukaemia), HeLa (cervical), HepG2 (liver), and MCF-7 (breast), in comparison to 5-flurouracil (5-FU). Four amides showed IC50 ranging from 5 to 55 µM against all four cell lines. In contrast, tetradecyl-gallic-amide (13) affected only THP-1 leukaemia cells with IC50 of 3.08 µM. The activities of these compounds support the promise of phenolic amides as anticancer agents.

Cutaneous melanoma and purinergic modulation by phenolic compounds

Cutaneous melanoma is a complex pathology that still has only treatments that lack efficiency and offer many adverse effects. Due to this scenario emerges the need to analyze other possible treatments against this disease, such as the effect of phenolic compounds. These substances have proven antitumor effects, but still have not been fully explored as a form of therapy to combat melanoma. Also, the purinergic receptors, along with its system molecules, take part in the formation of tumors from many pathways, such as the actions of ectoenzymes and receptors activity, especially P2Rs family, and are formed by structures that can be modulated by the phenolic compounds. Therefore, more studies have to be made with the aim of explaining the purinergic system activity in carcinogenesis of cutaneous melanoma and the effects of its modulation by phenolic compound, in order to enable the development of new therapies to combat this aggressive and feared cancer.

Caffeic Acid Phosphanium Derivatives: Potential Selective Antitumor, Antimicrobial and Antiprotozoal Agents

Caffeic acid (CA) is one of the most abundant natural compounds present in plants and has a broad spectrum of beneficial pharmacological activities. However, in some cases, synthetic derivation of original molecules can expand their scope. This study focuses on the synthesis of caffeic acid phosphanium derivatives with the ambition of increasing their biological activities. Four caffeic acid phosphanium salts (CAPs) were synthesized and tested for their cytotoxic, antibacterial, antifungal, and amoebicidal activity in vitro, with the aim of identifying the best area for their medicinal use. CAPs exhibited significantly stronger cytotoxic activity against tested cell lines (HeLa, HCT116, MDA-MB-231 MCF-7, A2058, PANC-1, Jurkat) in comparison to caffeic acid. Focusing on Jurkat cells (human leukemic T cell lymphoma), the IC50 value of CAPs ranged from 0.9 to 8.5 μM while IC50 of CA was >300 μM. Antimicrobial testing also confirmed significantly higher activity of CAPs against selected microbes in comparison to CA, especially for Gram-positive bacteria (MIC 13-57 μM) and the yeast Candida albicans (MIC 13-57 μM). The anti-Acanthamoeba activity was studied against two pathogenic Acanthamoeba strains. In the case of A. lugdunensis, all CAPs revealed a stronger inhibitory effect (EC50 74-3125 μM) than CA (>105 µM), while in A. quina strain, the higher inhibition was observed for three derivatives (EC50 44-291 μM). The newly synthesized quaternary phosphanium salts of caffeic acid exhibited selective antitumor action and appeared to be promising antimicrobial agents for topical application, as well as potential molecules for further research.

Exploring the pharmacological and molecular mechanisms of Salvia chinensis Benth in colorectal cancer: A network pharmacology and molecular docking study

While Salvia chinensis Benth (commonly known as "Shijianchuan" in Chinese, and abbreviated as SJC) is commonly used in adjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer (CRC) in traditional Chinese medicine, its mechanism of action remains unclear. In this study, Initially, we examined the impact of SJC on CRC cells in an in vitro setting. Next, we initially retrieved the primary active components and targets of SJC from databases such as TCMSP and existing literature. Subsequently, we integrated differential gene expression data from the GEO database and collected CRC-related targets from resources like DisGeNET. The matching of these datasets enabled the identification of SJC-CRC targets. We constructed a protein-protein interaction network and identified core targets through topological analysis. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed using clusterProfiler. We established networks linking traditional Chinese medicine components to targets and core targets to signaling pathways. Additionally, we performed molecular docking to validate interactions between the main compounds and targets, and employed Western blot analysis to explore how the major components of SJC affect crucial signaling pathways. In this study, SJC inhibited the viability of HCT-116 and HT-29 cells. We identified a total of 11 active components in SJC along with 317 target genes. Among these, there were 8612 target genes associated with CRC, and we successfully matched 276 SJC-CRC target genes. Through topological analysis of the protein-protein interaction network, we pinpointed 20 core targets. It was revealed that SJC effects are linked to genes governing processes like cell apoptosis, proliferation, hypoxia, oxidative stress, and signaling pathways such as PI3K-Akt through GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. Additionally, we applied molecular docking techniques and observed that the majority of active compounds displayed robust binding affinity with the selected targets. In vitro experiments suggested that SJC and its key component, Ursolic acid, may exert its anti-CRC effects by modulating the core PI3K/AKT signaling pathway through inhibiting the phosphorylation of the target Akt1. This discovery is consistent with the predictions derived from network pharmacology methods. This study marks the inaugural utilization of bioinformatics methods in conjunction with in vitro experiments to comprehensively investigate the pharmacological and molecular mechanisms responsible for SJC anti-CRC effects.

Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE): Biosynthesis, Derivatives and Formulations with Neuroprotective Activities

Neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by a progressive process of degeneration and neuronal death, where oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are key factors that contribute to the progression of these diseases. Therefore, two major pathways involved in these pathologies have been proposed as relevant therapeutic targets: The nuclear transcription factor erythroid 2 (Nrf2), which responds to oxidative stress with cytoprotecting activity; and the nuclear factor NF-κB pathway, which is highly related to the neuroinflammatory process by promoting cytokine expression. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is a phenylpropanoid naturally found in propolis that shows important biological activities, including neuroprotective activity by modulating the Nrf2 and NF-κB pathways, promoting antioxidant enzyme expression and inhibition of proinflammatory cytokine expression. Its simple chemical structure has inspired the synthesis of many derivatives, with aliphatic and/or aromatic moieties, some of which have improved the biological properties. Moreover, new drug delivery systems increase the bioavailability of these compounds in vivo, allowing its transcytosis through the blood-brain barrier, thus protecting brain cells from the increased inflammatory status associated to neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. This review summarizes the biosynthesis and chemical synthesis of CAPE derivatives, their miscellaneous activities, and relevant studies (from 2010 to 2023), addressing their neuroprotective activity in vitro and in vivo.

Rational targeting of autophagy in colorectal cancer therapy: From molecular interactions to pharmacological compounds

The abnormal progression of tumors has been a problem for treatment of cancer and therapeutic should be directed towards targeting main mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis in tumors. The genomic mutations can result in changes in biological mechanisms in human cancers. Colorectal cancer is one of the most malignant tumors of gastrointestinal tract and its treatment has been faced some difficulties due to development of resistance in tumor cells and also, their malignant behavior. Hence, new therapeutic modalities for colorectal cancer are being investigated. Autophagy is a "self-digestion" mechanism that is responsible for homeostasis preserving in cells and its aberrant activation/inhibition can lead to tumorigenesis. The current review focuses on the role of autophagy mechanism in colorectal cancer. Autophagy may be associated with increase/decrease in progression of colorectal cancer due to mutual function of this molecular mechanism. Pro-survival autophagy inhibits apoptosis to increase proliferation and survival rate of colorectal tumor cells and it is also involved in cancer metastasis maybe due to EMT induction. In contrast, pro-death autophagy decreases growth and invasion of colorectal tumor cells. The status of autophagy (upregulation and down-regulation) is a determining factor for therapy response in colorectal tumor cells. Therefore, targeting autophagy can increase sensitivity of colorectal tumor cells to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Interestingly, nanoparticles can be employed for targeting autophagy in cancer therapy and they can both induce/suppress autophagy in tumor cells. Furthermore, autophagy modulators can be embedded in nanostructures in improving tumor suppression and providing cancer immunotherapy.

Phenolic Phytochemicals for Prevention and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer: A Critical Evaluation of In Vivo Studies

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most diagnosed and second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Limitations with existing treatment regimens have demanded the search for better treatment options. Different phytochemicals with promising anti-CRC activities have been reported, with the molecular mechanism of actions still emerging. This review aims to summarize recent progress on the study of natural phenolic compounds in ameliorating CRC using in vivo models. This review followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reporting and Meta-Analysis. Information on the relevant topic was gathered by searching the PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science databases using keywords, such as "colorectal cancer" AND "phenolic compounds", "colorectal cancer" AND "polyphenol", "colorectal cancer" AND "phenolic acids", "colorectal cancer" AND "flavonoids", "colorectal cancer" AND "stilbene", and "colorectal cancer" AND "lignan" from the reputed peer-reviewed journals published over the last 20 years. Publications that incorporated in vivo experimental designs and produced statistically significant results were considered for this review. Many of these polyphenols demonstrate anti-CRC activities by inhibiting key cellular factors. This inhibition has been demonstrated by antiapoptotic effects, antiproliferative effects, or by upregulating factors responsible for cell cycle arrest or cell death in various in vivo CRC models. Numerous studies from independent laboratories have highlighted different plant phenolic compounds for their anti-CRC activities. While promising anti-CRC activity in many of these agents has created interest in this area, in-depth mechanistic and well-designed clinical studies are needed to support the therapeutic use of these compounds for the prevention and treatment of CRC.

The Potential Functions and Mechanisms of Oat on Cancer Prevention: A Review

Oat is classified as a whole grain and contains high contents of protein, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and saponins). In recent years, studies have focused on the effects of oat consumption on reducing the risk of a variety of diseases. Reports have indicated that an oat diet exerts certain biological functions, such as preventing cardiovascular diseases, reducing blood glucose, and promoting intestinal health, along with antiallergy, antioxidation, and cancer preventive effects. At present, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. The natural products of oat are an important breakthrough for developing new strategies of cancer prevention, and their ability to interact with multiple cellular targets helps to combat the complexity of cancer pathogenesis. In addition, the comprehensive study of the cancer prevention activity and potential mechanism of oat nutrients and phytochemicals has become a research hotspot. In this Review, we focused on the potential functions of peptides, dietary fiber, and phytochemicals in oats on cancer prevention and further revealed novel mechanisms and prospects for clinical application. These findings might provide a novel approach to deeply understand the functions and mechanisms for cancer prevention of oat consumption.

Advances in autophagy as a target in the treatment of tumours

Autophagy is a multi-step lysosomal degradation process, which regulates energy and material metabolism and has been used to maintain homeostasis. Autophagy has been shown to be involved in the regulation of health and disease. But at present, there is no consensus on the relationship between autophagy and tumour, and we consider that it plays a dual role in the occurrence and development of tumour. That is to say, under certain conditions, it can inhibit the occurrence of tumour, but it can also promote the process of tumour. Therefore, autophagy could be used as a target for tumour treatment. The regulation of autophagy plays a synergistic role in the radiotherapy, chemotherapy, phototherapy and immunotherapy of tumour, and nano drug delivery system provides a promising strategy for improving the efficacy of autophagy regulation. This review summarised the progress in the regulatory pathways and factors of autophagy as well as nanoformulations as carriers for the delivery of autophagy modulators.

Biological Impact of Phenolic Compounds from Coffee on Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading death-related diseases worldwide, usually induced by a multifactorial and complex process, including genetic and epigenetic abnormalities and the impact of diet and lifestyle. In the present study, we evaluated the biological impact of two of the main coffee polyphenols, chlorogenic acid (CGA) and caffeic acid (CA), as well as two polyphenol-rich coffee extracts (green coffee extract and toasted coffee Extract) against SW480 and SW620 colorectal cancer cells. First, the total phenolic content and the antioxidant capability of the extracts were determined. Then, cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT and SBR. Finally, a wound healing assay was performed to determine the impact on the cell migration process. The results showed a cytotoxic effect of all treatments in a time and dose-dependent manner, which decreased the viability in both cell lines at 24 h and 48 h; likewise, the migration capability of cells decreased with low doses of treatments. These results suggest the potential of coffee to modulate biological mechanisms involved in colorectal cancer development; however, more studies are required to understand the mechanistic insights of these observations.

Caffeic acid and its derivatives as potential modulators of oncogenic molecular pathways: New hope in the fight against cancer

As a phenolic acid compound, caffeic acid (CA) can be isolated from different sources such as tea, wine and coffee. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is naturally occurring derivative of CA isolated from propolis. This medicinal plant is well-known due to its significant therapeutic impact including its effectiveness as hepatoprotective, neuroprotective and anti-diabetic agent. Among them, anti-tumor activity of CA has attracted much attention, and this potential has been confirmed both in vitro and in vivo. CA can induce apoptosis in cancer cells via enhancing ROS levels and impairing mitochondrial function. Molecular pathways such as PI3K/Akt and AMPK with role in cancer progression, are affected by CA and its derivatives in cancer therapy. CA is advantageous in reducing aggressive behavior of tumors via suppressing metastasis by inhibiting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition mechanism. Noteworthy, CA and CAPE can promote response of cancer cells to chemotherapy, and sensitize them to chemotherapy-mediated cell death. In order to improve capacity of CA and CAPE in cancer suppression, it has been co-administered with other anti-tumor compounds such as gallic acid and p-coumaric acid. Due to its poor bioavailability, nanocarriers have been developed for enhancing its ability in cancer suppression. These issues have been discussed in the present review with a focus on molecular pathways to pave the way for rapid translation of CA for clinical use.

Prediction of Prognostic Biomarkers and Construction of an Autophagy Prognostic Model for Colorectal Cancer Using Bioinformatics

Objective:

The incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing every year, and autophagy may be related closely to the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. Autophagy is a natural catabolic mechanism that allows the degradation of cellular components in eukaryotic cells. However, autophagy plays a dual role in tumorigenesis. It not only promotes normal cell survival and tumor growth but also induces cell death and suppresses tumors survival. In addition, the pathogenesis of various conditions, including inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, or tumors, is associated with abnormal autophagy. The present work aimed to examine the significance of autophagy-related genes (ARGs) in prognosis prediction, to construct an autophagy prognostic model, and to identify independent prognostic factors for colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods:

This study discovered a total of 36 ARGs in CRC cases using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Human Autophagy-dedicated (HADd) databases along with functional enrichment analysis. Then, an autophagy prognostic model was constructed using univariate Cox regression analysis, and the key prognostic genes were screened. Finally, independent prognostic markers were determined through independent prognostic analysis and clinical correlation analysis of key genes.

Results:

Of the 36 differentially expressed ARGs, 13 were related to prognosis, as determined by univariate Cox regression analysis. A total of 6 key genes were obtained by a multivariate Cox regression analysis. Independent prognostic values were shown by 3 genes, namely, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (MAP1LC3C), small GTPase superfamily and Rab family (RAB7A), and WD-repeat domain phosphoinositide-interacting protein 2 (WIPI2) by independent prognostic analysis and clinical correlation.

Conclusions:

In this study, molecular bioinformatics technology was employed to determine and construct a prognostic model of autophagy for colon cancer patients, which revealed 3 autophagy-related features, namely, MAP1LC3C, WIPI2, and RAB7A.

Polyphenol-Mediated Autophagy in Cancer: Evidence of In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

One of the hallmarks of cellular transformation is the altered mechanism of cell death. There are three main types of cell death, characterized by different morphological and biochemical features, namely apoptosis (type I), autophagic cell death (type II) and necrosis (type III). Autophagy, or self-eating, is a tightly regulated process involved in stress responses, and it is a lysosomal degradation process. The role of autophagy in cancer is controversial and has been associated with both the induction and the inhibition of tumor growth. Autophagy can exert tumor suppression through the degradation of oncogenic proteins, suppression of inflammation, chronic tissue damage and ultimately by preventing mutations and genetic instability. On the other hand, tumor cells activate autophagy for survival in cellular stress conditions. Thus, autophagy modulation could represent a promising therapeutic strategy for cancer. Several studies have shown that polyphenols, natural compounds found in foods and beverages of plant origin, can efficiently modulate autophagy in several types of cancer. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the effects of polyphenols on autophagy, highlighting the conceptual benefits or drawbacks and subtle cell-specific effects of polyphenols for envisioning future therapies employing polyphenols as chemoadjuvants.