Exploring Breakthroughs in Cancer Research:Highlights from Oncology Research, Vol. 31, No. 6, 2023

Exploring Breakthroughs in Cancer Research:Highlights from Oncology Research, Vol. 31, No. 6, 2023

In the latest issue of Oncology Research (Vol. 31, No. 6, 2023), we have selected four articles for brief recommendation, which are welcome to read and pay attention to, hoping to provide you with more valuable information about cancer biology, new therapeutic agents and prediction tools.

1.Identification of a dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibitor that inhibits cancer cell growth by proteomic profiling

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) is a central enzyme of the?de novo?pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway and is a promising drug target for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. This study presents the identification of a potent DHODH inhibitor by proteomic profiling. Cell-based screening revealed that NPD723, which is reduced to H-006 in cells, strongly induces myeloid differentiation and inhibits cell growth in HL-60 cells. H-006 also suppressed the growth of various cancer cells. Proteomic profiling of NPD723-treated cells in ChemProteoBase showed that NPD723 was clustered with DHODH inhibitors. H-006 potently inhibited human DHODH activity?in vitro, whereas NPD723 was approximately 400 times less active than H-006. H-006-induced cell death was rescued by the addition of the DHODH product orotic acid. Moreover, metabolome analysis revealed that H-006 treatment promotes marked accumulation of the DHODH substrate dihydroorotic acid. These results suggest that NPD723 is reduced in cells to its active metabolite H-006, which then targets DHODH and suppresses cancer cell growth. Thus, H-006-related drugs represent a potentially powerful treatment for cancer and other diseases.

Figure 1:?NPD723 induces myeloid differentiation. (A) Structure of NPD723. (B) NBT-positive HL-60 cells induced by NPD723. Scale bar indicates 400 μm. (C) Cell differentiation of HL-60 cells after NPD723 treatment was assessed by NBT assay. (D) NPD723-induced immunophenotypic changes were analyzed by flow cytometry. (E) Cell growth of HL-60 cells after NPD723 treatment was analyzed by WST-8 assay. (F) Cell cycle of HL-60 cells after NPD723 treatment was analyzed by flow cytometry.

2.Deoxynortryptoquivaline: A unique antiprostate cancer agent

The androgen receptor (AR) is a critical target in all the clinical stages of prostate cancer. To identify a new AR inhibitor, we constructed a new screening system using the androgen-dependent growth of prostate cancer cell lines as a screening indicator. We screened 50,000 culture broths of microorganisms using this screening system and found that the fermentation broth produced by a fungus inhibited androgen-dependent growth of human prostate cancer LNCaP cells without cytotoxicity. Purification of this culture medium was performed, and this resulted in deoxynortryptoquivaline (DNT) being identified as a novel inhibitor of AR function. DNT showed potent inhibition of androgen-dependent growth of human prostate cancer LNCaP cells. The AR competitor assay was performed, and DNT did not act as an AR antagonist. However, DNT inhibited AR-dependent transcriptional activity and AR nuclear translocation, it suggested that the suppression of AR function leads to inhibition activity against androgen-dependent growth.

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3.Comprehensive molecular analysis to predict the efficacy of chemotherapy containing bevacizumab in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Background:?Although bevacizumab is an important treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), not all patients with CRC benefit from it; in unselected patient populations, only modest survival benefits have been reported.?Methods:?We evaluated clinical outcomes in 110 patients using comprehensive molecular characterization to identify biomarkers for a response to bevacizumab-containing treatment. The molecular analysis comprised whole-exome sequencing, ribonucleic acid sequencing, and a methylation array on patient tissues.?Results:?Genomic and molecular characterization was successfully conducted in 103 patients. Six of 103 CRC samples were hypermutated, and none of the non-hypermutant tumors were microsatellite unstable. Among those 103 patients, 89 had adenocarcinoma (ADC), 15 were diagnosed with mucinous ADC, and six had signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC). Consensus molecular subtype (CMS) 2 was unique to ADC. Of the four SRCCs, two were CMS1, one was CMS4, and the other was CMS3.?APC?mutation status was a significantly enriched factor in responders to bevacizumab treatment. Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 1/2 signaling was upregulated in non-responders, whereas cell cycle, transfer ribonucleic acid processing, nucleotide excision repair, and oxidative phosphorylation pathways were enriched in responders. In addition,?IGF1?was differentially expressed in non-responders (log2 fold change = ?1.43,?p?= 4.11 × 10?5, false discovery rate = 0.098), and?FLT1?was highly methylated in non-responders (p?= 7.55 × 10?3). When the molecular pathways were reanalyzed separately according to the backbone chemotherapy (FOLFOX?vs. FOLFIRI), the significance of the molecular pathways varied according to the backbone chemotherapy.?Conclusions:?This study sought a subset of CRC patients with a distinct clinical response to chemotherapy containing bevacizumab. Our results need to be validated in a large group of homogenous patient cohort and examined according to the different chemotherapy backbones to create personalized therapeutic opportunities in CRC.

Figure 1:?Genomic landscapes and correlates of the response to bevacizumab. (A) Genomic landscape of 103 patients with CRC who received bevacizumab. (B) CMS classification of patients with CRC according to pathology (top) and CIMP status (bottom). (C) Violin plot of the ESTIMATE tumor purity in CRC patients based on pathology (left), CMS classification (middle), and CIMP status (right). Wilcoxon rank-sum?p?values are shown. (D) Bar plot of the frequency of?APC?mutation in responders (CR and PR) and non-responders (SD and PD) to bevacizumab treatment. Fisher’s exact?p?value is shown. (E) Summary of CRC core pathway alteration frequency. CR, complete response; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease; PD, progressive disease. CMS, consensus molecular subtype; NA, not available; ADC, adenocarcinoma; MAC, mucinous adenocarcinoma; SRCC, signet-ring cell carcinoma; NEG, negative; WT, wild type; CIMP, CpG island methylator phenotype.

4.A novel isoxazole compound CM2-II-173 inhibits the invasive phenotype of triple-negative breast cancer cells

Invasion and metastasis are important hallmarks of breast cancer and are the leading cause of patient mortality. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer characterized by a poor prognosis and a lack of effective targeted therapies. The present study investigated the inhibitory effect of a novel FTY720 derivative on the invasive phenotype of TNBC cells. Here, we showed that a novel compound with an isoxazole ring, 4-(3-Decylisoxazol-5-yl)-1-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)butan-2-aminium chloride (CM2-II-173), significantly inhibited invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells. Expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and invasiveness of MCF10A normal breast cells induced by sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) were reduced by CM2-II-173 treatment. Activations of pMEK1, pAkt, pERK, and p38 MAPK by S1P were inhibited by treatment with CM2-II-173. Proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells were significantly decreased by CM2-II-173. CM2-II-173 efficiently induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells. CM2-II-173 significantly inhibited invasive phenotypes of breast, liver, prostate, and ovarian cancer cells. CM2-II-173 exhibited a more potent effect on the invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells compared to FTY720. Taken together, this study demonstrated that CM2-II-173 has the potential to be a lead compound that can inhibit cancer progression of not only TNBC cells, but also of liver, prostate, and ovarian cancer cells.

Figure 1:?CM2-II-173 inhibits invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells. (A) Structure of the CM2-II-173 compound. (B) MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells were treated with 2 μM FTY720, NED-135, or CM2-II-173 for 24 h. The invasion ability (%) of the cells was calculated by comparing the invasive capacity of the control group, which was considered as 100% (one?way ANOVA, *p?< 0.05).

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