AKT inhibitor Hu7691 induces differentiation of neuroblastoma cells

While neuroblastoma accounts for 15% of childhood tumor-related deaths, treatments against neuroblastoma remain scarce and mainly consist of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs. Currently, maintenance therapy of differentiation induction is the standard of care for neuroblastoma patients in clinical, especially high-risk patients. However, differentiation therapy is not used as a first-line treatment for neuroblastoma due to low efficacy, unclear mechanism, and few drug options. Through compound library screening, we accidently found the potential differentiation-inducing effect of AKT inhibitor Hu7691. The protein kinase B (AKT) pathway is an important signaling pathway for regulating tumorigenesis and neural differentiation, yet the relation between the AKT pathway and neuroblastoma differentiation remains unclear. Here, we reveal the anti-proliferation and neurogenesis effect of Hu7691 on multiple neuroblastoma cell lines. Further evidence including neurites outgrowth, cell cycle arrest, and differentiation mRNA marker clarified the differentiation-inducing effect of Hu7691. Meanwhile, with the introduction of other AKT inhibitors, it is now clear that multiple AKT inhibitors can induce neuroblastoma differentiation. Furthermore, silencing AKT was found to have the effect of inducing neuroblastoma differentiation. Finally, confirmation of the therapeutic effects of Hu7691 is dependent on inducing differentiation in vivo, suggesting that Hu7691 is a potential molecule against neuroblastoma. Through this study, we not only define the key role of AKT in the progression of neuroblastoma differentiation but also provide potential drugs and key targets for the application of differentiation therapies for neuroblastoma clinically.

Expert consensus on the clinical application of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors in the treatment of advanced breast cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway (PAM pathway) plays an important role in the development of breast cancer and are closely associated with the resistance to endocrine therapy in advanced breast cancer. Therefore, anti-cancer treatment targeting key molecules in this signaling pathway has become research hot-spot in recent years. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors bring significant clinical benefit to patients with advanced breast cancer, especially to those with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2-negative advanced breast cancer. Alpelisib, a PI3K inhibitor, and everolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, have been approved by Food and Drug Administration. Based on their high efficacy and relatively good safety profile, expanded indication of everolimus in breast cancer have been approved by National Medical Products Administration. Alpelisib is expected to be approved in China in the near future. The members of the consensus expert panel reached this consensus to comprehensively define the role of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in breast cancer, efficacy and clinical applications of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors, management of adverse reactions, and PIK3CA mutation detection, in order to promote the understanding of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors for Chinese oncologists, improve clinical decision-making, and prolong the survival of target patient population.

Profiling of AKT inhibitors on tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes in patients with liver metastasis of colorec-tal cancer / 实用医学杂志

Objective To explore the influence of AKT inhibitors on tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes (TIL)in patients with liver metastasis of colorectal cancer.Methods The tumor tissues from the patients with liv-er metastasis of colorectal cancer in Department of General Surgery,The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2016 to December 2016 were collected.TIL and tumor cells were isolated by percoll densi-ty gradient centrifugation. The profiling of AKT inhibitors on TIL were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results AKT inhibition enhances the expansion of TIL with memory cell without affects its proliferation,also the cells obtained under AKT inhibitor with IL-2 showed higher frequency of IFN-γproducing cells than IL-2. Conclusion Add AKT inhibitors in TIL cultivation system can strengthen the proliferation of central memory T cells,and does not affect the number of CD8+T cells.This might be developed for cell-based immunotherapy of cancer.

Effects of Akt Inhibitor MK-2206 on Proliferation and Apoptosis of Lung Adenocarcinoma A549 Cells / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To study the effects of Akt inhibitor MK-2206 on the proliferation and apoptosis of lung adenocarcino-ma A549 cells. METHODS:The optical density of A549 cells was detected by MTT assay after treated with 0(blank control),0.5, 1,2.5,5,10,20 and 30 μmol/L MK-2206 for 24 h;after pretreatment with 0(blank control),5,10 and 20 μmol/L MK-2206 for 24 h,morphological changes of A549 cells were observed with inverted microscope. Cell cycle and apoptosis rate were analyzed by flow cytometry. Western blot was used to detect the expression of cell cycle-related proteins Cyclin D1,p21 and p27 and apopto-sis-related protein PARP(cf-PARP),cf-caspase-3,Bcl-2 and Bax. RESULTS:Compared with blank control,the optical density of A549 cells decreased,cells shrank and presented vesicular state after treatment of MK-2206;A549 cells arrested in G0/G1 stage, the protein expression of p21 and p27 strengthened while that of Cyclin D1 decreased;the apoptotic rate of cells increased,the ex-pression of cf-PARP,cf-caspase-3 and Bax in cells increased while that of Bcl-2 decreased. All reponse were in concentration-de-pendant manner (P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS:MK-2206 can inhibit the proliferation of A549 cells,and induce the apoptosis of A549 cells by adjusting the expression of activating caspase-3,down-regulating Bcl-2 and up-regulating Bax.

Blocking autophagy magnifies MK-2206-induced DNA damage in SGC-7901 cells / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM:To investigate the effect of MK-2206, an inhibitor of protein kinase B (Akt), on the DNA damage of SGC-7901 cells.METHODS: SGC-7901 cells were treated with different concentrations of MK-2206, and phosphorylated histone H2AX (γ-H2AX) foci formation was detected by immunofluorescence staining .Western blot analy-sis was used to exam the levels of DNA damage-related protein.The expression of LC3-Ⅱ was determined to evaluate the change of autophagy .RESULTS:MK-2206 treatment increased the formation of γ-H2AX foci and histone H2AX phospho-rylation in the SGC-7901 cells.The levels of DNA damage response protein were also increased .In addition, MK-2206-treated SGC-7901 cells increased the expression of LC 3-II, a hallmark of autophagy .Inhibition of autophagy significantly enhanced MK-2206-mediated histone H2AX phosphorylation.CONCLUSION:MK-2206 induces DNA damage and auto-phagy in SGC-7901 cells.Blocking autophagy potentiates the response of MK-2206-induced DNA damage .

AKT inhibitor suppresses hyperthermia-induced Ndrg2 phosphorylation in gastric cancer cells

Hyperthermia is one of the most effective adjuvant treatments for various cancers with few side effects. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms still are not known. N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2), a tumor suppressor, has been shown to be involved in diverse cellular stresses including hypoxia, lipotoxicity, etc. In addition, Ndrg2 has been reported to be related to progression of gastric cancer. In the current study, our data showed that the apoptosis rate of MKN28 cells increased relatively rapidly to 13.4% by 24 h after treatment with hyperthermia (42°C for 1 h) compared to 5.1% in control cells (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, there was no obvious change in the expression level of total Ndrg2 during this process. Further investigation demonstrated that the relative phosphorylation levels of Ndrg2 at Ser332, Thr348 increased up to 3.2- and 1.9-fold (hyperthermia group vs control group) at 3 h in MKN28 cells, respectively (P < 0.05). We also found that heat treatment significantly increased AKT phosphorylation. AKT inhibitor VIII (10 µM) decreased the phosphorylation level of Ndrg2 induced by hyperthermia. Accordingly, the apoptosis rate rose significantly in MKN28 cells (16.4%) treated with a combination of AKT inhibitor VIII and hyperthermia compared to that (6.8%) of cells treated with hyperthermia alone (P < 0.05). Taken together, these data demonstrated that Ndrg2 phosphorylation could be induced by hyperthermia in an AKT-dependent manner in gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, AKT inhibitor VIII suppressed Ndrg2 phosphorylation and rendered gastric cancer cells susceptible to apoptosis induced by hyperthermia.