ABSTRACT
2-(1-Hydroxethyl)-4,8-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:5,4-b']dithiophene-4,8-dione (BTP-11) is a potent enhancer for all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation in HL-60 cells. Combination of BTP-11 and ATRA cut down the concentration of ATRA significantly, and that BTP-11 promoted the progression of ATRA-induced into the terminal granulocytic differentiation. Further, Western blot analysis revealed that combination of BTP-11 and ATRA decreased cyclin D/CDK4 and increased C/EBPvarepsilon protein expression to arrest the cells into G0/G1 phase leading to granulocytic maturation. These results confirmed that BTP-11 is a potent enhancer for ATRA-induced differentiation of HL-60 cells, and the great developmental potential of BTP-11 will be expected.
Subject(s)
Cell Differentiation/drug effects , Thiophenes/pharmacology , Tretinoin/pharmacology , Antigens, CD/immunology , Blotting, Western , Drug Synergism , Flow Cytometry , G1 Phase , HL-60 Cells , Humans , Resting Phase, Cell CycleABSTRACT
Among five carboxamide derivatives (13-17), N-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-4,8-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:5,4-b']dithiophene-4,8-dione-2-carboxamide (13) showed the greatest enhancement of all-trans retinoid acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation in HL-60 cells, inducing nearly complete differentiation at a concentration of 0.02microM. On the other hand, 2-hydroxymethyl-4,8-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:5,4-b']dithiophene-4,8-dione (2) and 2-(1-hydroxylethyl)-4,8-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:5,4-b']dithiophene-4,8-dione (18) exhibited excellent and equally potent differentiation effects on HL-60 cells. To improve their water solubility, ester-type hydrophilic prodrugs (23-26) were also synthesized. Compounds 13 and 23-26 are identified in this paper as new anti-leukemic drug candidates.
