Millepachine, a potential topoisomerase II inhibitor induces apoptosis via activation of NF-κB pathway in ovarian cancer

MLL1 regulates cytokine-driven cell migration and metastasis

Cell migration is a critical contributor to metastasis. Cytokine production and its role in cancer cell migration have been traditionally associated with immune cells. We find that the histone methyltransferase Mixed-Lineage Leukemia 1 (MLL1) controls 3D cell migration via cytokines, IL-6, IL-8, and TGF-β1, secreted by the cancer cells themselves. MLL1, with its scaffold protein Menin, controls actin filament assembly via the IL-6/8/pSTAT3/Arp3 axis and myosin contractility via the TGF-β1/Gli2/ROCK1/2/pMLC2 axis, which together regulate dynamic protrusion generation and 3D cell migration. MLL1 also regulates cell proliferation via mitosis-based and cell cycle-related pathways. Mice bearing orthotopic MLL1-depleted tumors exhibit decreased lung metastatic burden and longer survival. MLL1 depletion leads to lower metastatic burden even when controlling for the difference in primary tumor growth rates. Combining MLL1-Menin inhibitor with paclitaxel abrogates tumor growth and metastasis, including preexistent metastasis. These results establish MLL1 as a potent regulator of cell migration and highlight the potential of targeting MLL1 in patients with metastatic disease.

A review on Millepachine and its derivatives as potential multitarget anticancer agents

Chalcones have a long history of being used for many medical purposes. These are the most prestigious scaffolds in medicine. The potential of Millepachine and its derivatives to treat various malignancies has been demonstrated in this review. The anticancer effects of Millepachine and its derivatives on ovarian cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast, liver, colon, cervical, prostate, stomach, and gliomas are highlighted in the current review. Several genes that are crucial in reducing the severity of the disease have been altered by these substances. They mainly work by preventing tubulin polymerizing. They also exhibit apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. Additionally, these compounds inhibit invasion and migration and have antiproliferative effects. Preclinical studies have shown that Millepachine and its derivatives offer exceptional potential for treating a number of cancers. These results need to be confirmed in clinical research in order to develop viable cancer therapies.

The combined anticancer of peanut skin procyanidins and resveratrol to CACO-2 colorectal cancer cells

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide. Currently, chemotherapy is the primary way for colorectal cancer, but with severe side effects. Therefore, it is urgent to find safer and more effective adjuvant treatment methods. At present, natural active substances are promising alternatives, as numerous studies have demonstrated possible synergistic anticancer effects in plant-active polyphenols. In the present study, the combined effect of procyanidins (PC) (from peanut skin) and resveratrol (RES) (from peanut buds) on the synergistic anticancer potential was investigated. CACO-2 and HCT-8 cells were served as colorectal cancer models, and HEPG-2 and HUH-7 cells were served as liver cancer models to observe the effects of PC and RES alone or in combination on the growth and proliferation of these four types of cancer cells. The results revealed that both PC and RES could inhibit the cells' proliferation in a manner with concentration-dependent, but they exerted synergistic anticancer effects only on CACO-2 cells. PC and RES could synergistically inhibit CACO-2 cell clone formation, inducing apoptosis of CACO-2 cells and blocking their cell cycle in G0/G1 phase. Additionally, as observed by the results of Western blot assay, the combined effect of PC and RES also inhibited the phosphorylation of Thr308, Ser473, and ERK and promoted the phosphorylation of IKBα and NF-κB in CACO-2 cells. These findings collectively indicate that PC combined with RES might exert synergistic anticancer effects by regulating AKT, ERK, and NF-κB signaling pathways.

Chalcones: Promising therapeutic agents targeting key players and signaling pathways regulating the hallmarks of cancer

The need for innovative anticancer treatments with high effectiveness and low toxicity is urgent due to the development of malignancies that are resistant to chemotherapeutic agents and the poor specificity of existing anticancer treatments. Chalcones are 1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-ones, which are the precursors for flavonoids and isoflavonoids. Chalcones are readily available from a wide range of natural resources and consist of very basic chemical scaffolds. Because the ease with which the synthesis it allows for the production of several chalcone derivatives. Various in-vitro and in-vivo studies indicate that naturally occurring and synthetic chalcone derivatives exhibit promising biological activities against cancer hallmarks such as proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, inflammation, stemness, and regulation of cancer epigenetics. According to their structure and functional groups, chalcones derivatives and their hybrid compounds exert a broad range of biological activities through targeting key elements and signaling molecules relevant to cancer progression. This review will provide valuable insights into the latest updates of chalcone groups as anticancer agents and extensively discuss their underlying molecular mechanisms of action.

Sparstolonin B inhibits pancreatic adenocarcinoma through the NF-κB signaling pathway

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a highly lethal malignant gastrointestinal tumor. Sparstolonin B is an isocoumarin whose anticancer activity has recently received increasing attention. This study aimed to investigate Sparstolonin B's potential antitumor effect on pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The effect of Sparstolonin B on pancreatic cancer target genes and molecular mechanism was predicted via network pharmacology; Sparstolonin B significantly decreased Panc-1 and SW1990 cell viability and effectively suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells as shown by CCK-8, colony formation, and Transwell assays. Flow cytometry showed that it induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Sparstolonin B also upregulated Bax levels but decreased those of MMP2 and Bcl-2, downregulated IκBα expression, and upregulated p65 and IκBα phosphorylation; however, it had no effect on total NF-κB p65 levels. The NF-κB pathway inhibitor QNZ reversed these effects. The treatment group (26 μmol/L) had reduced graft volume and weight and fewer Ki-67-positive cells than the control group. Therefore, Sparstolonin B can inhibit the growth and induce the apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells via the NF-κB signaling pathway and may be a potential novel drug for pancreatic cancer treatment.

SPIB acts as a tumor suppressor by activating the NFkB and JNK signaling pathways through MAP4K1 in colorectal cancer cells

Spi-B transcription factor (SPIB) is a member of the E-twenty-six (ETS) transcription factor family. Previous studies have shown that the expression of SPIB is downregulated in human colorectal cancer tissues. The purpose of our study was to explore the biological function and related mechanism of SPIB in colorectal cancer cells. Our study found that SPIB could inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of CRC cells; inhibit angiogenesis; and induce CRC cells cycle arrest in G2/M phase and promote the apoptosis of CRC cells. We also found that compared with the control group, the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of oxaliplatin and 5-FU in the SPIB overexpression group were significantly reduced. Western blot results showed that the overexpression of SPIB upregulated cleaved-PARP(c-PARP), nuclear factor kB p65 (NFkB p65), phospho-NFkB p65 (p-NFkB P65), JNK1, and C-Jun protein expression levels compared with the control group. The silence of SPIB downregulated c-PARP, NFκB p65, p-NFκB p65, JNK1, and C-Jun protein expression levels. A dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that SPIB could activate the promoter of MAP4K1 and enhance the expression of MAP4K1. After silencing MAP4K1, the protein expression levels of c-PARP, NFkB P65, p-NFkB P65, JNK1, and C-Jun were downregulated. In summary, we found that SPIB is a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer cells and that SPIB sensitizes colorectal cancer cells to oxaliplatin and 5-FU, SPIB exerts its anti-colorectal cancer effect by activating the NFkB and JNK signaling pathways through MAP4K1. The above findings may provide a reference for new molecular markers and therapeutic targets for CRC.

Chalcone Derivatives and their Activities against Drug-resistant Cancers: An Overview

Drug resistance, including multidrug resistance resulting from different defensive mechanisms in cancer cells, is the leading cause of the failure of the cancer therapy, posing an urgent need to develop more effective anticancer agents. Chalcones, widely distributed in nature, could act on diverse enzymes and receptors in cancer cells. Accordingly, chalcone derivatives possess potent activity against various cancers, including drug-resistant, even multidrug-resistant cancer. This review outlines the recent development of chalcone derivatives with potential activity against drug-resistant cancers covering articles published between 2010 and 2020 so as to facilitate further rational design of more effective candidates.

Molecular Mechanisms of Antiproliferative Effects of Natural Chalcones

Simple Summary

Despite the important progress in cancer treatment in the past decades, the mortality rates in some types of cancer have not significantly decreased. Therefore, the search for novel anticancer drugs has become a topic of great interest. Chalcones, precursors of flavonoid synthesis in plants, have been documented as natural compounds with pleiotropic biological effects including antiproliferative/anticancer activity. This article focuses on the knowledge on molecular mechanisms of antiproliferative action of chalcones and draws attention to this group of natural compounds that may be of importance in the treatment of cancer disease.

Abstract

Although great progress has been made in the treatment of cancer, the search for new promising molecules with antitumor activity is still one of the greatest challenges in the fight against cancer due to the increasing number of new cases each year. Chalcones (1,3-diphenyl-2-propen-1-one), the precursors of flavonoid synthesis in higher plants, possess a wide spectrum of biological activities including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer. A plethora of molecular mechanisms of action have been documented, including induction of apoptosis, autophagy, or other types of cell death, cell cycle changes, and modulation of several signaling pathways associated with cell survival or death. In addition, blockade of several steps of angiogenesis and proteasome inhibition has also been documented. This review summarizes the basic molecular mechanisms related to the antiproliferative effects of chalcones, focusing on research articles from the years January 2015–February 2021.

MIL-1, a novel antitumor agent derived from natural product millepachine, acts as tubulin polymerization inhibitor for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Natural products are a large source of clinically effective antitumor drugs. Millepachine, a natural product derived from leguminous plants, was reported to display antitumor activity. In this study, the novel compound, (1H-indol-5-yl) (5-methoxy-2,2-dimethyl-2H-chromen-8-yl)methanone (MIL-1), was designed and synthesized by fusing millepachine and indole rings. MIL-1 exerted much better antitumor activity than millepachine, manifesting as a 24- to 201-fold increase in vitro cytotoxicity and a 2.4-fold increase in in vivo antitumor activity in hepatocellular cell lines-derived models. The immunofluorescence and HPLC detection revealed that MIL-1 was a potent microtubule targeting agent by interfering with the equilibrium of tubulin-microtubule dynamics and irreversibly binding to tubulin. MIL-1 displayed remarkable antitumor activity with an IC50 of 31-207 nM towards various human cancer cell lines derived from various organs and tissues, and it exerted no evidence of toxicity against normal cells. Mechanistic studies showed that MIL-1 arrested the cell cycle at G2/M phase and induced apoptosis by activating caspase-3 activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Moreover, the superior antitumor effect of MIL-1 is worthy of further detailed study for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

DNA damage response and repair in ovarian cancer: Potential targets for therapeutic strategies

Ovarian cancer is among the most lethal gynecologic malignancies with a poor survival prognosis. The current therapeutic strategies involve surgery and chemotherapy. Research is now focused on novel agents especially those targeting DNA damage response (DDR) pathways. Understanding the DDR process in ovarian cancer necessitates having a detailed knowledge on a series of signaling mediators at the cellular and molecular levels. The complexity of the DDR process in ovarian cancer and how this process works in metastatic conditions is comprehensively reviewed. For evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic agents targeting DNA damage in ovarian cancer, we will discuss the components of this system including DDR sensors, DDR transducers, DDR mediators, and DDR effectors. The constituent pathways include DNA repair machinery, cell cycle checkpoints, and apoptotic pathways. We also will assess the potential of active mediators involved in the DDR process such as therapeutic and prognostic candidates that may facilitate future studies.

The effect and mechanism of millepachine-disrupted spindle assembly in tumor cells

Millepachine (MIL) is a bioactive natural product that shows great potential for cancer treatment. Previous studies showed that MIL was a novel cancer drug candidate with a special structure. To provide reference for the research and development of MIL, we further investigated the mechanism of MIL inducing G2/M arrest and found MIL disrupted spindle assembly in tumor cells. In this study, we investigated the disrupting spindle assembly effects of MIL with a focus on its potential mechanism of action. First, we indicated that MIL did not inhibit microtubule polymerization from the results of in-vivo microtubule nucleation assay and microtubule polymerization in-vitro assay but delayed this process by inhibiting the production of ATP in tumor cells. Thereafter, we investigated the effect of MIL on the mitotic spindle. We found that MIL induced multipolar spindles by inhibiting the activity of Eg5 and inhibited mitotic spindle formation and chromatin condensation by the activation of the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) in tumor cells. These results established a novel function of MIL in regulating the assembly of mitotic spindle. As Eg5 and SAC are antitumor targets, effect of MIL on the Eg5 protein and SAC activation hinted that MIL has novel application in the development of antitumor drugs.

Millepachine showed novel antitumor effects in cisplatin-resistant human ovarian cancer through inhibiting drug efflux function of ATP-binding cassette transporters

Millepachine (MIL), a bioactive natural chalcone from Chinese herbal medicine Millettia pachycarpa Benth, exhibits strong antitumor effects against many human cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we found that MIL significantly inhibited the proliferation of cisplatin-resistant A2780CP cells via inducing obvious G2/M arrest and apoptosis and down-regulating the activity of topoisomerase II protein. We further found that the mechanism by which MIL showed good antitumor effects in cisplatin-resistant human ovarian cancer was associated with inhibiting the expression of ATP-binding cassette transporters in cisplatin-resistant A2780CP cells. Importantly, MIL did not only significantly inhibit the tumor growth in cisplatin-sensitive A2780S xenograft model, with an inhibitory rate of 73.21%, but also inhibited the tumor growth in the cisplatin-resistant A2780CP xenograft model, with an inhibitory rate of 65.68% (p < 0.001 vs. control; p < 0.001 vs. DDP). In addition, MIL did not induce acquired drug resistance in A2780S tumor-bearing mice with an inhibitory rate of 60.03%. The promising in vitro and in vivo performance indicated that MIL exhibited potential significance for drug research and development.

Thienopyrimidine-Chalcone Hybrid Molecules Inhibit Fas-Activated Serine/Threonine Kinase: An Approach To Ameliorate Antiproliferation in Human Breast Cancer Cells

Apoptotic evasion by cancerous cells being one of the striking hallmarks of cancer has turned into a new arena of drug discovery. A large number of pathways reported that govern the apoptotic evasion have been reported. Fas-activated serine/threonine kinase (FASTK) is a member of Ser/Thr kinase family, and it has been implicated in the apoptotic evasion and, hence, the development of cancer. Keeping this in view, a series of novel thienopyrimidine-based chalcones have been synthesized and evaluated to modulate the FASTK mediated apoptotic evasion. Initial screening was done by enzyme inhibition assay and binding studies, which showed that out of 15 synthesized compounds, 3 thienopyrimidine-based chalcone derivatives possess considerably high binding affinity and enzyme inhibitory potential (nM range) for FASTK. Cell proliferation assessment of selected compounds was performed on HEK-293 and MCF-7 cells. For MCF-7 cells, compounds 2, 10, and 12 show IC₅₀ values of 20.22 ± 1.50, 6.52 ± 0.82, and 8.20 ± 0.61 μM, respectively. Annexin-V and PI staining suggested that these molecules induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, arrest the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase, and subsequently inhibit cell migration presumably by inhibiting FASTK and reactive oxygen species production. In conclusion, we have successfully designed, synthesized, and characterized thienopyrimidine-based chalcones that inhibit FASTK and induce apoptosis. These compounds may be exploited as potential anticancer agents.

Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) mediate collagen type XI alpha 1-driven cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer

Although, cisplatin resistance is a major challenge in the treatment of ovarian cancer, the precise mechanisms underlying cisplatin resistance are not fully understood. Collagen type XI alpha 1 (COL11A1), a gene encoding a minor fibrillar collagen of the extracellular matrix, is identified as one of the most upregulated genes in cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer and recurrent ovarian cancer. However, the exact functions of COL11A1 in cisplatin resistance are unknown. Here we demonstrate that COL11A1 binds to integrin α1β1 and discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) and activates downstream signaling pathways to inhibit cisplatin-induced apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells. Mechanistically, we show that COL11A1 activates Src-PI3K/Akt-NF-kB signaling to induce the expression of three inhibitor apoptosis proteins (IAPs), including XIAP, BIRC2, and BIRC3. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of XIAP, BIRC2, and BIRC3 is sufficient to restore cisplatin-induced apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells in the presence of COL11A1 in ovarian cancer cells and xenograft mouse models, respectively. We also show that the components of COL11A1- integrin α1β1/DDR2- Src-PI3K/Akt-NF-kB-IAP signaling pathway serve as poor prognosis markers in ovarian cancer patients. Taken together, our results suggest novel mechanisms by which COL11A1 confers cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer. Our study also uncovers IAPs as promising therapeutic targets to reduce cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer, particularly in recurrent ovarian cancer expressing high levels of COL11A1.

Effects of metformin on endometrial cancer: Systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Endometrial cancer is one of the most common gynecological cancers, which is frequently preceded by atypical endometrial hyperplasia, a premalignant lesion. Metformin, an antidiabetic drug, has emerged as a new adjunctive strategy for different cancer types, including endometrial cancer. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of metformin in atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer patients.

METHODS

The search was conducted on January 2017 and the articles were collected in Cochrane, LILACS, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. A grey literature search was undertaken using Google SCHOLAR, ProQuest and Open Grey. Nineteen studies were included, which contained information about the following outcomes: reversal of atypical endometrial hyperplasia, cellular proliferation biomarkers expression and overall survival in metformin-users compared to non-users.

RESULTS

Metformin was associated with reversion of atypical endometrial hyperplasia to a normal endometrial, and with decreased cell proliferation biomarkers staining, from 51.94% (CI=36.23% to 67.46%) to 34.47% (CI=18.55% to 52.43%). However, there is a high heterogeneity among studies. Metformin-users endometrial cancer patients had a higher overall survival compared to non-metformin users and non-diabetic patients (HR=0.82; CI: 0.70-0.95; p=0.09, I²=40%).

CONCLUSION

Regardless the high heterogeneity of the analyzed studies, the present review suggests that adjunct metformin treatment may assist in the reversal of atypical endometrial hyperplasia to normal endometrial histology, in the reduction of cell proliferation biomarkers implicated in tumor progression, and in the improvement of overall survival in endometrial cancer. Further work on prospective controlled trials designed to address the effects of adjunct metformin on clinical outcomes is necessary for definite conclusions.