ON01210.Na (Ex-RAD®) mitigates radiation damage through activation of the AKT pathway.

Development of radio-protective agents that are non-toxic is critical in light of ever increasing threats associated with proliferation of nuclear materials, terrorism and occupational risks associated with medical and space exploration. In this communication, we describe the discovery, characterization and mechanism of action of ON01210.Na, which effectively protects mouse and human bone marrow cells from radiation-induced damage both in vitro and in vivo. Our results show that treatment of normal fibroblasts with ON01210.Na before and after exposure to ionizing radiation provides dose dependent protection against radiation-induced damage. Treatment of mice with ON01210.Na prior to radiation exposure was found to result in a more rapid recovery of their hematopoietic system. The mechanistic studies described here show that ON01210.Na manifests its protective effects through the up-regulation of PI3-Kinase/AKT pathways in cells exposed to radiation. These results suggest that ON 01210.Na is a safe and effective radioprotectant and could be a novel agent for use in radiobiological disasters.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of (E)-alpha-benzylthio chalcones as novel inhibitors of BCR-ABL kinase.

Novel (E)-alpha-benzylthio chalcones are reported with preliminary in vitro activity data indicating that several of them are potent inhibitors (comparable to imatinib, the reference compound) of BCR-ABL phosphorylation in leukemic K562 cells, known to express high levels of BCR-ABL. The ability of such compounds to significantly inhibit K562 cell proliferation suggests that this scaffold could be a promising lead for the development of anticancer agents that are able to block BCR-ABL phosphorylation in leukemic cells.