The Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine-Based Kinase Inhibitor NVP-BHG712: Effects of Regioisomers on Tumor Growth, Perfusion, and Hypoxia in EphB4-Positive A375 Melanoma Xenografts

Immune escape and metastasis mechanisms in melanoma: breaking down the dichotomy

Melanoma is one of the most lethal neoplasms of the skin. Despite the revolutionary introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, metastatic spread, and recurrence remain critical problems in resistant cases. Melanoma employs a multitude of mechanisms to subvert the immune system and successfully metastasize to distant organs. Concerningly, recent research also shows that tumor cells can disseminate early during melanoma progression and enter dormant states, eventually leading to metastases at a future time. Immune escape and metastasis have previously been viewed as separate phenomena; however, accumulating evidence is breaking down this dichotomy. Recent research into the progressive mechanisms of melanoma provides evidence that dedifferentiation similar to classical epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), genes involved in neural crest stem cell maintenance, and hypoxia/acidosis, are important factors simultaneously involved in immune escape and metastasis. The likeness between EMT and early dissemination, and differences, also become apparent in these contexts. Detailed knowledge of the mechanisms behind "dual drivers" simultaneously promoting metastatically inclined and immunosuppressive environments can yield novel strategies effective in disabling multiple facets of melanoma progression. Furthermore, understanding progression through these drivers may provide insight towards novel treatments capable of preventing recurrence arising from dormant dissemination or improving immunotherapy outcomes.

Robust identification of common genomic biomarkers from multiple gene expression profiles for the prognosis, diagnosis, and therapies of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death globally. So, identification of potential molecular signatures is required for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapies of PC. In this study, we detected 71 common differentially expressed genes (cDEGs) between PC and control samples from four microarray gene-expression datasets (GSE15471, GSE16515, GSE71989, and GSE22780) by using robust statistical and machine learning approaches, since microarray gene-expression datasets are often contaminated by outliers due to several steps involved in the data generating processes. Then we detected 8 cDEGs (ADAM10, COL1A2, FN1, P4HB, ITGB1, ITGB5, ANXA2, and MYOF) as the PC-causing key genes (KGs) by the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. We validated the expression patterns of KGs between case and control samples by box plot analysis with the TCGA and GTEx databases. The proposed KGs showed high prognostic power with the random forest (RF) based prediction model and Kaplan-Meier-based survival probability curve. The KGs regulatory network analysis detected few transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators for KGs. The cDEGs-set enrichment analysis revealed some crucial PC-causing molecular functions, biological processes, cellular components, and pathways that are associated with KGs. Finally, we suggested KGs-guided five repurposable drug molecules (Linsitinib, CX5461, Irinotecan, Timosaponin AIII, and Olaparib) and a new molecule (NVP-BHG712) against PC by molecular docking. The stability of the top three protein-ligand complexes was confirmed by molecular dynamic (MD) simulation studies. The cross-validation and some literature reviews also supported our findings. Therefore, the finding of this study might be useful resources to the researchers and medical doctors for diagnosis, prognosis and therapies of PC by the wet-lab validation.

Design, synthesis and biological characteristics of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives as potential VEGFR-2 inhibitors

Aim: Several VEGFR-2 inhibitors with the structure of [3,4-d]pyrimidine and based on sorafenib were designed and synthesized. Materials & methods: Cytotoxic activity was evaluated by MTT, wound healing and clone formation assays. Cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometry. Molecular simulation and western blot were also applied. Results: Among them, II-1 significantly inhibited tumor cellular activity (IC₅₀ = 5.90 ± 0.05 μM on HepG2 cells) compared with sorafenib (IC₅₀ = 9.05 ± 0.54 μM on HepG2 cells). Molecular docking demonstrated that II-1 and sorafenib have the same hydrogen binding. Finally, the protein expression of phosphorylated VEGFR-2 was substantially reduced after II-1 treatment. Conclusion: Compound II-1 can inhibit VEFGR-2 activation and is an effective antitumor agent in liver cancer cells.