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Douglas C, Jain S, Lomeli N, Di K, Nandwana NK, Mohammed AS, Vu T, Pham J, Lepe J, Kenney MC, Das B, Bota DA. Dual targeting of mitochondrial Lon peptidase 1 and chymotrypsin-like protease by small molecule BT317, as potential therapeutics in malignant astrocytoma. bioRxiv 2024:2023.04.13.536816. [PMID: 37131786 PMCID: PMC10153114 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.13.536816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Malignant astrocytomas are aggressive glioma tumors characterized by extensive hypoxia-induced, mitochondria-dependent changes such as altered respiration, increased chymotrypsin-like (CT-L) proteasome activity, decreased apoptosis, drug resistance, stemness and increased invasiveness. Mitochondrial Lon Peptidase I (LonP1) overexpression and increased CT-L proteasome inhibitors activity are the biomarkers of aggressive high grade glioma phenotype, poor prognosis and found to be associated with recurrence and poor patient survival, and drugs targeting either LonP1 or the CT-L activity have anti-glioma activity in preclinical models. We here for the first time introduced and evaluated a novel small molecule, BT317, derived from coumarinic compound 4 (CC4) using structure-activity modeling which we found to inhibit both LonP1 and CT-L proteasome activity. Using gain-of-function and loss-of-function genetic models, we discovered that BT317 is more effective than the individual LonP1 or CT-L inhibition in increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and inducing apoptosis in high-grade astrocytoma lines. In vitro, BT317 had activity as a single agent but, more importantly, enhanced synergy with the standard of care commonly used chemotherapeutic temozolomide (TMZ). In orthotopic xenograft, patient derived glioma models, BT317 was able to cross the blood-brain barrier, to show selective activity at the tumor site and to demonstrate therapeutic efficacy both as a single agent and in combination with TMZ. BT317 defines an emerging class of dual LonP1, and CT-L proteasome inhibitors exhibited promising anti-tumor activity and could be a promising candidate for clinical translation in the space of malignant astrocytoma therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Douglas
- Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Shashi Jain
- Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Naomi Lomeli
- Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Kaijun Di
- Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Thao Vu
- Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - James Pham
- Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Javier Lepe
- Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Maria Cristina Kenney
- Department of Ophthalmology Research, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Bhaskar Das
- Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Long Island University – Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Long Island University – Brooklyn, NY, USA
| | - Daniela A. Bota
- Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
- Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
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