scholarly journals Triple Combination of Ascorbate, Menadione and the Inhibition of Peroxiredoxin-1 Produces Synergistic Cytotoxic Effects in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 320
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Bajor ◽  
Agnieszka Graczyk-Jarzynka ◽  
Katsiaryna Marhelava ◽  
Malgorzata Kurkowiak ◽  
Arman Rahman ◽  
...  

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of mammary malignancy currently without satisfactory systemic treatment options. Agents generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as ascorbate (Asc) and menadione (Men), especially applied in combination, have been proposed as an alternative anticancer modality. However, their effectiveness can be hampered by the cytoprotective effects of elevated antioxidant enzymes (e.g., peroxiredoxins, PRDX) in cancer. In this study, PRDX1 mRNA and protein expression were assessed in TNBC tissues by analysis of the online RNA-seq datasets and immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarray, respectively. We demonstrated that PRDX1 mRNA expression was markedly elevated in primary TNBC tumors as compared to non-malignant controls, with PRDX1 protein staining intensity correlating with favorable survival parameters. Subsequently, PRDX1 functionality in TNBC cell lines or non-malignant mammary cells was targeted by genetic silencing or chemically by auranofin (AUR). The PRDX1-knockdown or AUR treatment resulted in inhibition of the growth of TNBC cells in vitro. These cytotoxic effects were further synergistically potentiated by the incubation with a combination of the prooxidant agents, Asc and Men. In conclusion, we report that the PRDX1-related antioxidant system is essential for maintaining redox homeostasis in TNBC cells and can be an attractive therapeutic target in combination with ROS-generating agents.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay B Alcaraz ◽  
Aude Mallavialle ◽  
Timothée David ◽  
Danielle Derocq ◽  
Frédéric Delolme ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTumor-specific molecular targets and alternative therapeutic strategies for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are urgently needed. The protease cathepsin D (cath-D) is a marker of poor prognosis in TNBC and a tumor-specific extracellular target for antibody-based therapy. The identification of cath-D substrates is essential for the mechanistic understanding of its role in TNBC and future therapeutic developments. Using degradomic analyses by TAILS, we discovered that the matricellular protein SPARC is a substrate of extracellular cath-D. In vitro, cath-D induced limited proteolysis of SPARC C-terminal extracellular Ca2+ binding domain at acidic pH, leading to the production of SPARC fragments (34-, 27-, 16-, 9-, and 6-kDa). Similarly, cath-D secreted by human TNBC and mouse mammary cancer cells cleaved fibroblast- and cancer-derived SPARC at the tumor pericellular pH. SPARC cleavage also occurred in vivo in TNBC and mouse mammary tumors. Among these fragments, the C-terminal 9-kDa SPARC fragment inhibited MDA-MB-231 TNBC cell adhesion and spreading on fibronectin, and stimulated their migration, endothelial transmigration and invasion more potently than full-length SPARC. These results highlight a novel crosstalk between proteases and matricellular proteins in the TNBC microenvironment through limited proteolysis of SPARC, and reveal that the 9-kDa C-terminal SPARC fragment is an attractive therapeutic target for TNBC.SignificanceWe show that cath-D-mediated limited proteolysis of SPARC promotes its pro-tumor activity in TNBC. Our study will pave the way for the development of strategies for targeting bioactive fragments from matricellular proteins in TNBC.


Nanomedicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 581-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuradha Gadeval ◽  
Rahul Maheshwari ◽  
Nidhi Raval ◽  
Dnyaneshwar Kalyane ◽  
Kiran Kalia ◽  
...  

Aim: Green graphene oxide (GO) nanoplates, which are reduced and stabilized by quercetin and guided by folate receptors (quercetin reduced and loaded GO nanoparticles-folic acid [FA]), were developed to mediate combined photo-chemo-thermal therapy of triple-negative breast cancer. Materials & methods: Modified Hummers method was used for the synthesis of GO followed by its reduction using quercetin, FA was then conjugated as a targeting ligand. A cytotoxicity assay, apoptosis assay and cellular uptake assay were performed in vitro in MDA-MB-231 cell line with and without irradiation of a near-infrared 808 nm laser. Results & conclusion: Quercetin reduced and loaded GO nanoparticles-FA showed significantly high cellular uptake (p < 0.001) and cytotoxic effects in MDA-MB-231 cells, which was even more prominent under the situation of near-infrared 808 nm laser irradiation, making it a potential option for treating triple-negative breast cancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 175883592090604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Knowlson ◽  
Paula Haddock ◽  
Victoria Bingham ◽  
Stephen McQuaid ◽  
Paul B. Mullan ◽  
...  

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the subset of breast cancer associated with the poorest outcome, and currently lacks targeted treatments. Standard of care (SoC) chemotherapy often consists of DNA damaging chemotherapies ± taxanes, with a range of responses observed. However, we currently lack biomarkers to predict this response and lack alternate treatment options. Methods: Pin1 expression was modulated in vitro and proliferation and treatment response was studied. Pin1 expression was analysed in patient samples and correlated with clinical outcome. Results: In this study, we have shown that the prolyl isomerase, Pin1, which is highly expressed in TNBC, plays a key role in pathogenesis of the disease. Knockdown of Pin1 in TNBC resulted in cell death while the opposite is seen in normal cells. We revealed for the first time that loss of Pin1 leads to increased sensitivity to Taxol but only in the absence of functional BRCA1. Conversely, loss of Pin1 results in decreased sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents independent of BRCA1 status. Analysis of Pin1 gene or IHC-based expression in over 200 TNBC patient samples revealed a novel role for Pin1 as a TNBC-specific biomarker, with high expression associated with improved outcome in the context of SoC chemotherapy. Preliminary data indicated this may be extended to other treatment options (e.g. Cisplatin/Parp Inhibitors) that are gaining traction for the treatment of TNBC. Conclusions: This study highlights the important role played by Pin1 in TNBC and highlights the context-dependent functions in modulating cell growth and response to treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Xin-le Han ◽  
Jun Du ◽  
Ya-dan Zheng ◽  
Jia-jing Dai ◽  
Su-wen Lin ◽  
...  

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most lethal subtype of breast cancer due to its lack of treatment options. Patients with TNBC frequently develop resistance to chemotherapy. As epigenetic-based antineoplastic drugs, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) have achieved particular efficacy in lymphoma but are less efficacious in solid tumors, and the resistance mechanism remains poorly understood. In this study, the GSE129944 microarray dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus database was downloaded, and fold changes at the transcriptome level of a TNBC line (MDA-MB-231) after treatment with belinostat were identified. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were used to identify the critical biological processes. Construction and analysis of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were performed to screen candidate genes related to cancer prognosis. A total of 465 DEGs were identified, including 240 downregulated and 225 upregulated genes. The cytokine-cytokine receptor pathway was identified as being significantly changed. Furthermore, the expression of CXCL1 was implicated as a favorable factor in the overall survival of breast cancer patients. With in vitro approaches, we also showed that belinostat could induce the expression of CXCL1 in another 2 TNBC cell lines (BT-549 and HCC-1937). We speculate that belinostat-induced CXCL1 expression could be one of the results of the stress clone evolution of cells after HDACi treatment. These findings provide new insights into clone evolution during HDACi treatment, which might guide us to a novel perspective that various mutation-targeted treatments should be implemented during the whole treatment cycle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5782
Author(s):  
Ashwini Makhale ◽  
Devathri Nanayakkara ◽  
Prahlad Raninga ◽  
Kum Kum Khanna ◽  
Murugan Kalimutho

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer lacking targeted therapy. Here, we evaluated the anti-cancer activity of APR-246, a P53 activator, and CX-5461, a RNA polymerase I inhibitor, in the treatment of TNBC cells. We tested the efficacy of individual and combination therapy of CX-5461 and APR-246 in vitro, using a panel of breast cancer cell lines. Using publicly available breast cancer datasets, we found that components of RNA Pol I are predominately upregulated in basal-like breast cancer, compared to other subtypes, and this upregulation is associated with poor overall and relapse-free survival. Notably, we found that the treatment of breast cancer cells lines with CX-5461 significantly hampered cell proliferation and synergistically enhanced the efficacy of APR-246. The combination treatment significantly induced apoptosis that is associated with cleaved PARP and Caspase 3 along with Annexin V positivity. Likewise, we also found that combination treatment significantly induced DNA damage and replication stress in these cells. Our data provide a novel combination strategy by utilizing APR-246 in combination CX-5461 in killing TNBC cells that can be further developed into more effective therapy in TNBC therapeutic armamentarium.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e002383
Author(s):  
Jin-Li Wei ◽  
Si-Yu Wu ◽  
Yun-Song Yang ◽  
Yi Xiao ◽  
Xi Jin ◽  
...  

PurposeRegulatory T cells (Tregs) heavily infiltrate triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and their accumulation is affected by the metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells. In the present study, we sought to identify cancer cell-intrinsic metabolic modulators correlating with Tregs infiltration in TNBC.Experimental designUsing the RNA-sequencing data from our institute (n=360) and the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium TNBC cohort (n=320), we calculated the abundance of Tregs in each sample and evaluated the correlation between gene expression levels and Tregs infiltration. Then, in vivo and in vitro experiments were performed to verify the correlation and explore the underlying mechanism.ResultsWe revealed that GTP cyclohydrolase 1 (GCH1) expression was positively correlated with Tregs infiltration and high GCH1 expression was associated with reduced overall survival in TNBC. In vivo and in vitro experiments showed that GCH1 increased Tregs infiltration, decreased apoptosis, and elevated the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)-positive fraction. Metabolomics analysis indicated that GCH1 overexpression reprogrammed tryptophan metabolism, resulting in L-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) accumulation in the cytoplasm accompanied by kynurenine accumulation and tryptophan reduction in the supernatant. Subsequently, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, activated by 5-HTP, bound to the promoter of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and thus enhanced the transcription of IDO1. Furthermore, the inhibition of GCH1 by 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine (DAHP) decreased IDO1 expression, attenuated tumor growth, and enhanced the tumor response to PD-1 blockade immunotherapy.ConclusionsTumor-cell-intrinsic GCH1 induced immunosuppression through metabolic reprogramming and IDO1 upregulation in TNBC. Inhibition of GCH1 by DAHP serves as a potential immunometabolic strategy in TNBC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Débora Ferreira ◽  
Joaquim Barbosa ◽  
Diana A. Sousa ◽  
Cátia Silva ◽  
Luís D. R. Melo ◽  
...  

AbstractTriple-negative breast cancer is the most aggressive subtype of invasive breast cancer with a poor prognosis and no approved targeted therapy. Hence, the identification of new and specific ligands is essential to develop novel targeted therapies. In this study, we aimed to identify new aptamers that bind to highly metastatic breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells using the cell-SELEX technology aided by high throughput sequencing. After 8 cycles of selection, the aptamer pool was sequenced and the 25 most frequent sequences were aligned for homology within their variable core region, plotted according to their free energy and the key nucleotides possibly involved in the target binding site were analyzed. Two aptamer candidates, Apt1 and Apt2, binding specifically to the target cells with $$K_{d}$$ K d values of 44.3 ± 13.3 nM and 17.7 ± 2.7 nM, respectively, were further validated. The binding analysis clearly showed their specificity to MDA-MB-231 cells and suggested the targeting of cell surface receptors. Additionally, Apt2 revealed no toxicity in vitro and showed potential translational application due to its affinity to breast cancer tissue sections. Overall, the results suggest that Apt2 is a promising candidate to be used in triple-negative breast cancer treatment and/or diagnosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia M. Saraiva ◽  
Carlha Gutiérrez-Lovera ◽  
Jeannette Martínez-Val ◽  
Sainza Lores ◽  
Belén L. Bouzo ◽  
...  

AbstractTriple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is known for being very aggressive, heterogeneous and highly metastatic. The standard of care treatment is still chemotherapy, with adjacent toxicity and low efficacy, highlighting the need for alternative and more effective therapeutic strategies. Edelfosine, an alkyl-lysophospholipid, has proved to be a promising therapy for several cancer types, upon delivery in lipid nanoparticles. Therefore, the objective of this work was to explore the potential of edelfosine for the treatment of TNBC. Edelfosine nanoemulsions (ET-NEs) composed by edelfosine, Miglyol 812 and phosphatidylcholine as excipients, due to their good safety profile, presented an average size of about 120 nm and a neutral zeta potential, and were stable in biorelevant media. The ability of ET-NEs to interrupt tumor growth in TNBC was demonstrated both in vitro, using a highly aggressive and invasive TNBC cell line, and in vivo, using zebrafish embryos. Importantly, ET-NEs were able to penetrate through the skin barrier of MDA-MB 231 xenografted zebrafish embryos, into the yolk sac, leading to an effective decrease of highly aggressive and invasive tumoral cells’ proliferation. Altogether the results demonstrate the potential of ET-NEs for the development of new therapeutic approaches for TNBC.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1303
Author(s):  
Rizwan Ali ◽  
Hajar Al Zahrani ◽  
Tlili Barhoumi ◽  
Alshaimaa Alhallaj ◽  
Abdullah Mashhour ◽  
...  

In vitro studies of a disease are key to any in vivo investigation in understanding the disease and developing new therapy regimens. Immortalized cancer cell lines are the best and easiest model for studying cancer in vitro. Here, we report the establishment of a naturally immortalized highly tumorigenic and triple-negative breast cancer cell line, KAIMRC2. This cell line is derived from a Saudi Arabian female breast cancer patient with invasive ductal carcinoma. Immunocytochemistry showed a significant ratio of the KAIMRC2 cells’ expressing key breast epithelial and cancer stem cells (CSCs) markers, including CD47, CD133, CD49f, CD44, and ALDH-1A1. Gene and protein expression analysis showed overexpression of ABC transporter and AKT-PI3Kinase as well as JAK/STAT signaling pathways. In contrast, the absence of the tumor suppressor genes p53 and p73 may explain their high proliferative index. The mice model also confirmed the tumorigenic potential of the KAIMRC2 cell line, and drug tolerance studies revealed few very potent candidates. Our results confirmed an aggressive phenotype with metastatic potential and cancer stem cell-like characteristics of the KAIMR2 cell line. Furthermore, we have also presented potent small molecule inhibitors, especially Ryuvidine, that can be further developed, alone or in synergy with other potent inhibitors, to target multiple cancer-related pathways.


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