NCTD elicits proapoptotic and antiglycolytic effects on colorectal cancer cells via modulation of Fam46c expression and inhibition of ERK1/2 signaling

Bibliometric Analysis and Systemic Review of Cantharidin Research Worldwide

BACKGROUND

Cantharidin (CTD), a natural toxic compound from blister beetle Mylabris, has been used for cancer treatment for millenary. CTD and its analogs have become mainstream adjuvant drugs with radiotherapy and chemotherapy in clinical applications. However, the detailed pharmacology mechanism of CTD was not fully elucidated.

METHODS

Publications of CTD were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection database from 1991 to 2023 using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Scimago Graphica software.

RESULTS

A total of 1,611 publications of CTD were mainly published in China and the United States. The University of Newcastle has published the most researches. Mcclusey, Adam, Sakoff, Jennette, and Zhang, Yalin had the most CTD publications with higher H. Notably, CTD researches were mainly published in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters and the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Cluster profile results revealed that protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), human gallbladder carcinoma, Aidi injection, and cell apoptosis were the hotspots. Concentration on the pharmacology function of PP2A subunit regulation, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and cardiotoxicity mechanism should be strengthened in the future.

CONCLUSION

Bibliometric analysis combined with a systemic review of CTD research first revealed that PP2A and CTD analogs were the knowledge base of CTD, and PP2A subunit regulation and toxic mechanism could be the frontiers of CTD.

Norbornene and Related Structures as Scaffolds in the Search for New Cancer Treatments

The norbornene scaffold has arisen as a promising structure in medicinal chemistry due to its possible therapeutic application in cancer treatment. The development of norbornene-based derivatives as potential chemotherapeutic agents is attracting significant attention. Here, we report an unprecedented review on the recent advances of investigations into the antitumoral efficacy of different compounds, including the abovementioned bicyclic scaffold in their structure, in combination with chemotherapeutic agents or forming metal complexes. The impact that structural modifications to these bicyclic compounds have on the antitumoral properties and the mechanisms by which these norbornene derivatives act are discussed in this review. In addition, the use of norbornene, and its related compounds, encapsulation in nanosystems for its use in cancer therapies is here detailed.

A new core–shell-type nanoparticle loaded with paclitaxel/norcantharidin and modified with APRPG enhances anti-tumor effects in hepatocellular carcinoma

Nanoparticle delivery systems have been shown to improve the therapeutic efficacy of anti-cancer drugs, including a variety of drugs for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the current systems show some limitations, and the delivery of more effective nanoparticle systems for anti-HCC drugs with better targeting ability are needed. Here, we created paclitaxel (PTX)/norcantharidin (NCTD)-loaded core–shell lipid nanoparticles modified with a tumor neovasculature-targeted peptide (Ala-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly, APRPG) and investigated their anti-tumor effects in HCC. Core–shell-type lipid nanoparticles (PTX/NCTD-APRPG-NPs) were established by combining poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-wrapped PTX with phospholipid-wrapped NCTD, followed by modification with APRPG. For comparison, PTX-loaded PLGA nanoparticles (PTX-NPs) and PTX/NCTD-loaded core–shell-type nanoparticles without APRPG (PTX/NCTD-NPs) were prepared. The in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor effects were examined in HepG2 cells and tumor-bearing mice, respectively. Morphological and release characterization showed that PTX/NCTD-APRPG-NPs were prepared successfully and achieved up to 90% release of PTX in a sustained manner. Compared with PTX/NCTD-NPs, PTX/NCTD-APRPG-NPs significantly enhanced the uptake of PTX. Notably, the inhibition of proliferation and migration of hepatoma cells was significantly higher in the PTX/NCTD-APRPG-NP group than those in the PTX-NP and PTX/NCTD-NP groups, which reflected significantly greater anti-tumor properties as well. Furthermore, key molecules in cell proliferation and apoptosis signaling pathways were altered most in the PTX/NCTD-APRPG-NP group, compared with the PTX-NP and PTX/NCTD-NP groups. Collectively, PTX/NCTD-loaded core–shell lipid nanoparticles modified with APRPG enhance the effectiveness of anti-HCC drugs and may be an effective system for the delivery of anti-HCC drugs.

Norcantharidin overcomes vemurafenib resistance in melanoma by inhibiting pentose phosphate pathway and lipogenesis via downregulating the mTOR pathway

Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer with a high incidence and low survival rate. More than half of melanomas present the activating BRAF mutations, along which V600E mutant represents 70%–90%. Vemurafenib (Vem) is an FDA-approved small-molecule kinase inhibitor that selectively targets activated BRAF V600E and inhibits its activity. However, the majority of patients treated with Vem develop acquired resistance. Hence, this study aims to explore a new treatment strategy to overcome the Vem resistance. Here, we found that a potential anticancer drug norcantharidin (NCTD) displayed a more significant proliferation inhibitory effect against Vem-resistant melanoma cells (A375R) than the parental melanoma cells (A375), which promised to be a therapeutic agent against BRAF V600E-mutated and acquired Vem-resistant melanoma. The metabolomics analysis showed that NCTD could, especially reverse the upregulation of pentose phosphate pathway and lipogenesis resulting from the Vem resistance. In addition, the transcriptomic analysis showed a dramatical downregulation in genes related to lipid metabolism and mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway in A375R cells, but not in A375 cells, upon NCTD treatment. Moreover, NCTD upregulated butyrophilin (BTN) family genes, which played important roles in modulating T-cell response. Consistently, we found that Vem resistance led to an obvious elevation of the p-mTOR expression, which could be remarkably reduced by NCTD treatment. Taken together, NCTD may serve as a promising therapeutic option to resolve the problem of Vem resistance and to improve patient outcomes by combining with immunomodulatory therapy.

Norcantharidin Nanostructured Lipid Carrier (NCTD-NLC) Suppresses the Viability of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma HepG2 Cells and Accelerates the Apoptosis

Malignant tumors have become the main cause of harm to human life and health. Development for new antitumor drugs and the exploration to drug carriers are becoming the concerned focus. In this study, we exploited our experiments to explore the effect of NCTD-NLC on liver cancer cells: the HepG2 cells cultured in vitro were given with NCTD-NLC administration; then, the estimation on cellular proliferation and apoptosis was accomplished through MTT and flow cytometry. Six hours after the administration, we performed the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) detection to estimate the NCTD content in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and plasma of rats. Then, our outcomes showed that NCTD-NLC had a notable inhibitory effect on HepG2 cells, leading to a gradually decreased cellular viability. Cell viability was negatively correlated with NCTD-NLC concentration. Along with the concentration increasing, significantly increasing cellular apoptosis and gradually decreasing cellular viability were observed. The apoptosis rate was positively correlated with the concentration of NCTD-NLC. On the basis of the data we obtained, we found that the group with NCTD-NLC tail vein injection had an obvious advantage in drug delivery when compared with other groups. Through the tumorigenesis test to nude mice, we found that the tumor inhibition rate of the NCTD-NLC tail vein injection group had a 27.48% elevation in contrast to the NCTD gavage group, and it was also the group with the best tumor inhibition efficiency. In conclusion, the NCTD-NLC prepared in this study had a mighty inhibitory effect towards HepG2 cellular viability and an accelerating work on apoptosis. Tail vein injection of NCTD-NLC has the best drug delivery effect.

FAM46C as a Potential Marker for Pan-Cancer Prognosis and Predicting Immunotherapeutic Efficacy

Background:FAM46C is a common mutated gene in tumours. A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between FAM46C expression and pan-cancer can guide clinical prognosis and broaden the immunotherapeutic targets.

Methods: Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases were obtained, and gene expression of different tumour types and stages was analysed. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed to detect differences in the FAM46C protein levels in normal and cancerous tissues. The genetic variation of FAM46C was characterised using cBioPortal. The clinical prognostic value of FAM46C and the impact of FAM46C expression levels on the prognosis of patients with different types of cancer were assessed based on Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to analyse the pathways associated with FAM46C. Correlations between FAM46C expression levels and immune infiltration were assessed using the TIMER2 database and CIBERSORT algorithm, and correlations between FAM46C expression and the ESTIMATE, immune and stromal scores were analysed using the ESTIMATE algorithm. In addition, we also analysed the correlation between FAM46C expression and immune activation, suppression genes and immune chemokines.

Results: The expression level of FAM46C was correlated with the prognosis of most tumours, and low expression levels often suggested a poor prognosis. FAM46C was positively correlated with the abundance of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and plasma B lymphocytes in the tumour microenvironment. FAM46C exhibited a strong correlation with immunomodulatory pathways, immunomodulatory factors and immune markers. In addition, high FAM46C expression correlated with tumour mutational burden in acute myeloid leukaemia and microsatellite instability in endometrial cancer.

Conclusion: Our study suggests that FAM46C can be a potential prognostic marker for pan-cancer, is closely associated with immune regulation and may be an immune checkpoint to guide future clinical immunotherapy.

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Colorectal Cancer: Implications for Drug Discovery

As an important part of complementary and alternative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been applied to treat a host of diseases for centuries. Over the years, with the incidence rate of human colorectal cancer (CRC) increasing continuously and the advantage of TCM gradually becoming more prominent, the importance of TCM in both domestic and international fields is also growing with each passing day. However, the unknowability of active ingredients, effective substances, and the underlying mechanisms of TCM against this malignant tumor greatly restricts the translation degree of clinical products and the pace of precision medicine. In this review, based on the characteristics of TCM and the oral administration of most ingredients, we herein provide beneficial information for the clinical utilization of TCM in the prevention and treatment of CRC and retrospect the current preclinical studies on the related active ingredients, as well as put forward the research mode for the discovery of active ingredients and effective substances in TCM, to provide novel insights into the research and development of innovative agents from this conventional medicine for CRC treatment and assist the realization of precision medicine.

Norcantharidin-blocked ANXA2P2 inhibits fibroblast proliferation by increasing UBAP2L mRNA stability through LIN28B

AIMS

Norcantharidin (NCTD) exhibits antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrosis properties, which makes NCTD an attractive candidate for the treatment of pathological scars. This study was designed to investigate the potential effects of NCTD on fibroblast proliferation and explore the underlying mechanisms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

First, cell viability and cell apoptosis were evaluated to determine the effects of NCTD on human skin fibroblasts, at 10, 50, and 100 μM. To explore the mechanism, bioinformatics analyses, chromatin immunoprecipitation, RNA immunoprecipitation, and RNA pulldown assays, and luciferase reporter assays were performed to verify the relationships among NCTD, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), annexin A2 pseudogene 2 (ANXA2P2), and ubiquitin-associated protein 2-like (UBAP2L) mRNA in fibroblasts. Loss-of-function experiments were performed to investigate the roles played by STAT3, ANXA2P2, and UBAP2L in the proliferation and apoptosis of fibroblasts.

KEY FINDINGS

We found that NCTD administration induced fibroblast apoptosis and inhibited fibroblast proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanistically, NCTD inhibited ANXA2P2 transcription through the inhibition of STAT3 phosphorylation. Subsequently, ANXA2P2 was found to enhance the physical interaction between UBAP2L mRNA and lin-28 homolog B (LIN28B), which increased the stability and levels of UBAP2L mRNA. Loss-of-function assays demonstrated that ANXA2P2 and UBAP2L knockdown induced fibroblast apoptosis and suppressed fibroblast proliferation.

SIGNIFICANCE

In conclusion, we confirmed that NCTD inhibits fibroblast proliferation by inhibiting the STAT3/ANXA2P2/UBAP2L axis, which suggested that NCTD could represent a new candidate for the treatment of pathological scars.

Antitumor potential of the protein phosphatase inhibitor, cantharidin, and selected derivatives

Cantharidin is a potent natural protein phosphatase monoterpene anhydride inhibitor secreted by several species of blister beetle, with its demethylated anhydride analogue, (S)-palasonin, occurring as a constituent of the higher plant Butea frondosa. Cantharidin shows both potent protein phosphatase inhibitory and cancer cell cytotoxic activities, but possible preclinical development of this anhydride has been limited thus far by its toxicity. Thus, several synthetic derivatives of cantharidin have been prepared, of which some compounds exhibit improved antitumor potential and may have use as lead compounds. In the present review, the potential antitumor activity, structure-activity relationships, and development of cantharidin-based anticancer drug conjugates are summarized, with protein phosphatase-related and other types of mechanisms of action discussed. Protein phosphatases play a key role in the tumor microenvironment, and thus described herein is also the potential for developing new tumor microenvironment-targeted cancer chemotherapeutic agents, based on cantharidin and its naturally occurring analogues and synthetic derivatives.