Aniquinazoline B, a fungal natural product, activates the µ-opioid receptor.

The development of new µ-opioid receptor (MOR) agonists without the undesirable side effects, such as addiction or respiratory depression, has been a difficult challenge over the years. In the search for new compounds, we screened our chemical database of over 40.000 substances and further assessed the best 100 through molecular docking. We selected the top 10 compounds and evaluated them for their biological activity and potential to influence cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. From the tested compounds, compound 7, called aniquinazoline B, belonging to the quinazolinone alkaloids class and isolated from the marine fungus Aspergillus nidulans, showed promising results, by inhibiting cAMP levels and in vitro binding to MOR, verified through microscale thermophoresis. Transcriptomic data investigation profiled the genes affected by compound 7 and discovered activation of different pathways compared to opioids. The western blot analysis revealed compound 7 as a balanced ligand, activating both p-ERK1/2 and ß-arrestin1/2 pathways, showing this is a favorable candidate to be further tested.

Tricuspid valve and right-heart chamber remodelling in elderly subjects with secondary tricuspid regurgitation.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of secondary tricuspid regurgitation (TR) increases with ageing, but the exact mechanisms and the pattern of tricuspid valve (TV) remodelling are yet to be defined. This knowledge is needed to guide patient selection for the evolving therapeutic options. We sought to explore the prevalence and predictors of secondary TR in the elderly, as well as the associated pattern of right-heart chamber and TV remodelling. METHODS: Consecutive older subjects (60-year-old or older) were prospectively enrolled and detailed analysis of right-heart chambers and TV was conducted (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05784883). TR severity was defined based on a multiparametric approach. RESULTS: Out of 213 patients (age, 67.1 ± 5.9 years, 52.6% female), 48.8% had mild and 15.5% had moderate-severe TR. The frequency of moderate-severe TR increased from 4.5% in those without to 32.9% in those with underlying abnormalities of the left/right heart. There was a significant trend of worsening right-heart chamber and TV remodelling across the three grades of TR severity (none-trace, mild, and moderate-severe; p-value for linear trend < 0.001). ROC curve-defined cut-points of TV remodelling parameters predicting moderate-severe TR were annular dilatation ≥3.75 cm (AUC: 0.74), tenting area ≥1.45 cm2 (AUC: 0.67), and leaflet length ≥2.25 cm (AUC: 0.61) with increasing frequency of moderate-severe TR from 7.2% through 64.7%, in those with none vs. all three criteria (p < 0.001). The most important correlate of the three TV remodelling parameters was right ventricular and atrial (RV and RA) dilatation. CONCLUSION: Rather than ageing per se, the presence of underlying cardiac abnormalities determines the frequency of moderate-severe TR. Progressive remodelling of right-heart chambers and TV geometry starts with the development of mild TR. TA dilatation, increased tenting, and leaflet elongation are three important correlates of the development of TR that parallel progressive RV and RA dilatation.Study Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05784883.

In Vivo and Clinical Studies of Natural Products Targeting the Hallmarks of Cancer.

Despite more than 200 approved anticancer agents, cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide due to disease complexity, tumour heterogeneity, drug toxicity, and the emergence of drug resistance. Accordingly, the development of chemotherapeutic agents with higher efficacy, a better safety profile, and the capability of bypassing drug resistance would be a cornerstone in cancer therapy. Natural products have played a pivotal role in the field of drug discovery, especially for the pharmacotherapy of cancer, infectious, and chronic diseases. Owing to their distinctive structures and multiple mechanistic activities, natural products and their derivatives have been utilized for decades in cancer treatment protocols. In this review, we delve into the potential of natural products as anticancer agents by targeting cancer's hallmarks, including sustained proliferative signalling, evading growth suppression, resisting apoptosis and cell death, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, and activating invasion and metastasis. We highlight the molecular mechanisms of some natural products, in vivo studies, and promising clinical trials. This review emphasizes the significance of natural products in fighting cancer and the need for further studies to uncover their fully therapeutic potential.

The Novel Artemisinin Dimer Isoniazide ELI-XXIII-98-2 Induces c-MYC Inhibition, DNA Damage, and Autophagy in Leukemia Cells.

The proto-oncogenic transcription factor c-MYC plays a pivotal role in the development of tumorigenesis, cellular proliferation, and the control of cell death. Its expression is frequently altered in many cancer types, including hematological malignancies such as leukemia. The dimer isoniazide ELI-XXIII-98-2 is a derivative of the natural product artemisinin, with two artemisinin molecules and an isoniazide moiety as a linker in between them. In this study, we aimed to study the anticancer activity and the molecular mechanisms of this dimer molecule in drug-sensitive CCRF-CEM leukemia cells and their corresponding multidrug-resistant CEM/ADR5000 sub-line. The growth inhibitory activity was studied using the resazurin assay. To reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying the growth inhibitory activity, we performed in silico molecular docking, followed by several in vitro approaches such as the MYC reporter assay, microscale thermophoresis, microarray analyses, immunoblotting, qPCR, and comet assay. The artemisinin dimer isoniazide showed a potent growth inhibitory activity in CCRF-CEM but a 12-fold cross-resistance in multidrug-resistant CEM/ADR5000 cells. The molecular docking of artemisinin dimer isoniazide with c-MYC revealed a good binding (lowest binding energy of -9.84 ± 0.3 kcal/mol) and a predicted inhibition constant (pKi) of 66.46 ± 29.5 nM, which was confirmed by microscale thermophoresis and MYC reporter cell assays. Furthermore, c-MYC expression was downregulated by this compound in microarray hybridization and Western blotting analyses. Finally, the artemisinin dimer isoniazide modulated the expression of autophagy markers (LC3B and p62) and the DNA damage marker pH2AX, indicating the stimulation of both autophagy and DNA damage, respectively. Additionally, DNA double-strand breaks were observed in the alkaline comet assay. DNA damage, apoptosis, and autophagy induction could be attributed to the inhibition of c-MYC by ELI-XXIII-98-2.

A drug repurposing approach for individualized cancer therapy based on transcriptome sequencing and virtual drug screening.

RNA-sequencing has been proposed as a valuable technique to develop individualized therapy concepts for cancer patients based on their tumor-specific mutational profiles. Here, we aimed to identify drugs and inhibitors in an individualized therapy-based drug repurposing approach focusing on missense mutations for 35 biopsies of cancer patients. The missense mutations belonged to 9 categories (ABC transporter, apoptosis, angiogenesis, cell cycle, DNA damage, kinase, protease, transcription factor, tumor suppressor). The highest percentages of missense mutations were observed in transcription factor genes. The mutational profiles of all 35 tumors were subjected to hierarchical heatmap clustering. All 7 leukemia biopsies clustered together and were separated from solid tumors. Based on these individual mutation profiles, two strategies for the identification of possible drug candidates were applied: Firstly, virtual screening of FDA-approved drugs based on the protein structures carrying particular missense mutations. Secondly, we mined the Drug Gene Interaction (DGI) database (https://www.dgidb.org/) to identify approved or experimental inhibitors for missense mutated proteins in our dataset of 35 tumors. In conclusion, our approach based on virtual drug screening of FDA-approved drugs and DGI-based inhibitor selection may provide new, individual treatment options for patients with otherwise refractory tumors that do not respond anymore to standard chemotherapy.

Beliefs and barriers of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among Sudanese healthcare workers in Sudan: A cross sectional study.

Vaccine hesitancy is one of the major global health impedances. Due to the unprecedented developing rate, the COVID-19 vaccine engendered a high level of hesitancy worldwide. The aim of this study is to assess hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Sudan. An online-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Sudan between May and June 2021 using conventional sampling. An anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to healthcare workers (HCW) through different social media platforms and 930 healthcare workers agreed to participate. Data were cleaned in excel sheet and then statistically analyzed using R software version 4.0.2. Of total participants, 67.3% of them were females. Over three-fifths of the study participants agreed that COVID-19 vaccine is important and should be mandatory. A total of 570 (61.3%) agreed that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, whilst 584 (62.8%) had concerns regarding side effects of the vaccine and 533 (57.3%) believe insufficient trials were conducted. A total of 375 (40.3%) accept vaccination absolutely, while 292 (31.4%) accept with some hesitation and only 48 (5.2%) refuse absolutely. Insufficient information about side effects (42.6%) and the vaccine (39.9%) were the most common concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Majority of Sudanese healthcare workers believed that COVID-19 vaccination should be mandatory. A high reliance on social media was observed among healthcare workers in Sudan for information on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modulation of Intestinal Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Signaling by the Herbal Preparation STW 5-II: Possible Mechanisms for Irritable Bowel Syndrome Management.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mediates stress responses and alters the gut-brain axis, contributing to the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is recognized by abdominal pain accompanied by bowel habit disturbance. STW 5-II, a mixture of six herbal extracts, is clinically effective in functional dyspepsia and IBS. Here we aimed to establish an organoid-based stress-induced IBS-like model to investigate the mechanisms of action of STW 5-II. STW 5-II (10, 20, and 30 g/mL) was applied to intestinal organoids for 24 h before being treated with CRF (100 nM) for 48 h. The effects of STW 5-II on CRF signaling were investigated using several in vitro and in silico approaches. STW 5-II activities were further explored by in silico PyRx screening followed by molecular docking of the main 52 identified compounds in STW 5-II with both CRF receptors CRFR1 and CRFR2. CRF exposure stimulated inflammation and increased proinflammatory mediators, while STW 5-II dose-dependently counteracted these effects. STW 5-II inhibited CRF-induced claudin-2 overexpression and serotonin release. Docking of the STW 5-II constituents oleanolic acid and licorice saponin G2 to CRFR1 and CRFR2, respectively, showed a good affinity. These multi-target activities support and elucidate the clinically proven efficacy of STW 5-II in disorders of gut-brain interaction.

Artemisinin derivative FO-ARS-123 as a novel VEGFR2 inhibitor suppresses angiogenesis, cell migration, and invasion.

Anti-angiogenesis targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) has been considered an important strategy for cancer therapy. VEGFR2 inhibitors targeting tumor angiogenic pathways have been widely used in clinical cancer treatment. However, inherent or acquired resistance to anti-angiogenic drugs may occur and thus limit their clinical application. New VEGFR2 inhibitors are still highly demanded. The aim of this study was to investigate VEGFR2-targeted artemisinin (ARS)-type compounds for cancer treatment. Here, we reported the ARS derivative FO-ARS-123 as a novel VEGFR2 inhibitor, which displayed potent binding activity with VEGFR2 in in silico by molecular docking (pKi, 0.40 ± 0.31 nM) and in vitro by microscale thermophoresis (Kd, 1.325 ± 0.055 µM). In addition, compound FO-ARS-123 displayed a strong inhibition on cell proliferation of a broad range of cancer cells as well as suppressed cell migration and invasion. Remarkably, FO-ARS-123 exerted profound anti-angiogenesis effects in the in vitro tube formation assay and in vivo CAM assay. These results suggest that FO-ARS-123 might be a novel and promising anti-angiogenesis agent for cancer treatment.

Flavanols from Tetrapleura tetraptera with cytotoxic activities.

Tetrapleura tetraptera is a medicinal plant used in East and West Africa to treat inflammation and related diseases. From the stem bark of the plant, three previously undescribed flavan-3-ol derivatives named (2R,3S)-3,3',5',7-tetrahydroxy-4'-methoxyflavane (1), (2R,3S)-3',5',7-trihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavane-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (2), and (2R,3S,4S)-3,3',4,5',7-pentahydroxy-4'-methoxyflavane (3) were isolated with three known analogues. The structural elucidation of the compounds was performed based on NMR spectroscopy and HRMS data analyses. The absolute configurations around the stereogenic carbons were determined using Circular Dichroism (ECD) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The cytotoxicity of the isolated compounds was tested using resazurin reduction assay. Compound 1 was moderately active against both recalcitrant leukemia cell lines with IC50 values of 21.90 µM towards CCRF-CEM and 50.80 towards CEM/ADR5000. Similar level of activity was observed for compound 3 against CCRF-CEM cell line, IC50 = 35.50 µM. All the tested compounds were not cytotoxic compared with the standard drug, doxorubicin, with IC50 values of 0.0075 against CCRF-CEM and 24.30 µM against CEM/ADR5000.

Naphthoquinone derivatives as P-glycoprotein inducers in inflammatory bowel disease: 2D monolayers, 3D spheroids, and in vivo models.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) represents a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by an overreaction of immune responses and damage at the intestinal mucosal barrier. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) plays a key role to protect the intestinal barrier from xenobiotic accumulation and suppressing excessive immune responses. Therefore, induction/activation of P-gp function could serve as a novel therapeutic target to treat IBD. This study aimed to evaluate the potential therapeutic values of naphthoquinone derivatives (NQ-1 - NQ-8) as P-gp modulators to counterbalance intestinal inflammation. The data indicate that NQ-2, NQ-3, and NQ-4 act as P-gp inducers/activators and are recognized as substrates for P-gp. The three derivatives possess anti-inflammatory effects mediated by suppression of NF-κB and HDAC6 activity in Caco2 monolayer cells. Besides, they reversed LPS-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction by enhancing the expression of P-gp and ZO-1 tight junction proteins in a Caco-2 spheroid model. NQ-2, NQ-3, and NQ-4 showed a robust inhibitory effect on IL-1ß maturation in LPS-primed THP-1 cells. This effect may contribute to alleviate the inflammatory cascades associated with IBD. Distinctively, NQ-2 and NQ-3 exerted anti-NLRP3 inflammasome activity evidenced by the inhibition of CASP-1 activity and the promotion of autophagy. Both compounds induced disruptions of the microtubule network in transfected U2OS-GFP-α-tubulin cells. Treatment with NQ-2 remarkably attenuated dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in rats by suppressing changes in colon length, colon mass index, and intestinal histopathology scores. Thus, 1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives such as NQ-2 may provide potential therapeutic anti-inflammatory effects for IBD patients and for other NLRP3-associated inflammatory diseases.

Identification of Novel Anthracycline Resistance Genes and Their Inhibitors.

Differentially expressed genes have been previously identified by us in multidrug-resistant tumor cells mainly resistant to doxorubicin. In the present study, we exemplarily focused on some of these genes to investigate their causative relationship with drug resistance. HMOX1, NEIL2, and PRKCA were overexpressed by lentiviral-plasmid-based transfection of HEK293 cells. An in silico drug repurposing approach was applied using virtual screening and molecular docking of FDA-approved drugs to identify inhibitors of these new drug-resistant genes. Overexpression of the selected genes conferred resistance to doxorubicin and daunorubicin but not to vincristine, docetaxel, and cisplatin, indicating the involvement of these genes in resistance to anthracyclines but not to a broader MDR phenotype. Using virtual drug screening and molecular docking analyses, we identified FDA-approved compounds (conivaptan, bexarotene, and desloratadine) that were interacting with HMOX1 and PRKCA at even stronger binding affinities than 1-(adamantan-1-yl)-2-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)ethenone and ellagic acid as known inhibitors of HMOX1 and PRKCA, respectively. Conivaptan treatment increased doxorubicin sensitivity of both HMOX1- and PRKCA-transfected cell lines. Bexarotene treatment had a comparable doxorubicin-sensitizing effect in HMOX1-transfected cells and desloratadine in PRKCA-transfected cells. Novel drug resistance mechanisms independent of ABC transporters have been identified that contribute to anthracycline resistance in MDR cells.

Anti-inflammatory and tight junction protective activity of the herbal preparation STW 5-II on mouse intestinal organoids.

BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder, in which recurrent abdominal pain is associated with defecation or a change in bowel habits. STW 5-II is a combination of six medicinal herbs with a clinically proven efficacy in managing IBS. AIM: This study aims to establish an in vitro IBS model using mouse intestinal organoids and to explore the anti-inflammatory and tight junction protective activities of the multi-herbal preparation STW 5-II. METHODS: Intestinal organoids were cultured in 1:1 Matrigel™ and medium domes. Inflammation and tight junction disruption were induced by a cocktail of cytokines (TNFα, IFNγ, IL-1ß, IL-6) and bacterial proteins (LPS, flagellin). Organoids were treated with different concentrations of STW 5-II, and its multi-target activity was assessed using microarray analyses, RT-qPCR, immunofluorescence, western blot, immunohistochemistry, and a FITC permeability assay. In addition, we analyzed the expression of pNF-κB, pSTAT1, iNOS and ZO-1. In silico analyses were conducted to predict and identify the active components that may be responsible in mediating the multi-target anti-inflammatory activity of STW 5-II. RESULTS: An organoid based IBS model was successfully established. STW 5-II effectively reduced the cytokines-induced overexpression of the pro-inflammatory mediators pNF-κB, pSTAT1 and iNOS. Moreover, STW 5-II attenuated cytokine-mediated downregulation of the tight junction protein, ZO-1. This finding was confirmed by a FITC permeability assay. In silico analyses revealed a promising inhibitory activity of some isolated compounds from STW 5-II against NF-κB, STAT1 and iNOS. CONCLUSION: STW 5-II possesses multiple anti-inflammatory as well as tight junction protective activities that could explain its clinically proven efficacy in managing IBS symptoms.

2α-Hydroxyalantolactone from Pulicaria undulata: activity against multidrug-resistant tumor cells and modes of action.

BACKGROUND: Sesquiterpene lactones having α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety are promising natural metabolites showing various biological activity. One of the major metabolites isolated from Pulicaria undulata, 2α-hydroxyalantolactone (PU-1), has not been investigated in detail yet. Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a major obstacle for cancer chemotherapy and the capability of novel natural products to overcoming MDR is of great interest. PURPOSE: Exploring the molecular modes of action for potent natural product metabolites. METHODS: The resazurin reduction assay was employed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of PU-1 on sensitive and their corresponding drug-resistant cell lines (overexpressing P-glycoprotein, BCRP, ABCB5, ΔEGFR, or TP53 knockout). Gene expression profiling was performed by transcriptome-wide mRNA microarray in the human CCRF-CEM leukemic cells after treatment with PU-1. The top significantly up- or down-regulated genes were identified by Chipster program and analyzed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software. Finally, flow cytometry and Western blotting were performed for cell cycle analyses and apoptosis detection. RESULTS: The sesquiterpene lactone, PU-1, showed potent cytotoxicity towards the drug-sensitive and -resistant cell lines. Transcriptome-wide mRNA expression profiling and pathway analysis pointed to genes involved in DNA damage response and G2/M cell cycle arrest. G2/M arrest was verified by flow cytometry and further confirmed by the upregulation of p21 and downregulation of p-CDC25C expression in Western blotting. Moreover, the suggested DNA damage checkpoint regulation was confirmed by immunofluorescence and Western blotting by upregulation of pS345 Chk1, p-H3 and γ-H2AX. Furthermore, PU-1 inhibited PI3K/AKT pathway, which is involved in signaling DNA damage and G2/M arrest. Cells ultimately induced apoptosis upon PU-1 treatment. CONCLUSIONS: PU-1 is a potent natural product inhibiting otherwise drug-resistant human tumor cell growth through DNA damage, G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

Molecular docking-based virtual drug screening revealing an oxofluorenyl benzamide and a bromonaphthalene sulfonamido hydroxybenzoic acid as HDAC6 inhibitors with cytotoxicity against leukemia cells.

HDAC6 is a crucial epigenetic modifier that plays a vital role in tumor progression and carcinogenesis due to its multiple biological functions. It is a unique member of class-II HDAC enzymes. It possesses two catalytic domains, which function independently of the overall enzyme activity. Up to date, there are only a few selective HDAC6 inhibitors with anti-cancer activity. In this study, 175,204 ligands obtained from the ZINC15 and OTAVAchemical databases were used for virtual drug screening against HDAC6. Molecular docking studies were performed for 100 selected compounds. Furthermore, the top 10 compounds obtained from docking were tested for their efficacy to inhibit the function of HDAC6. Five compounds (N-(9-oxo-9H-fluoren-3-yl)benzamide, 2-hydroxy-5-[(5-oxo-6-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)amino]benzoic acid, 5-(4-bromonaphthalene-1-sulfonamido)-2-hydroxybenzoic acid, 2-(naphthalen-2-yl)-N-(1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-5-yl)cyclopropane-1-carboxamide, and 4-oxa-5,6 diazapentacyclo[10.7.1.0³,7.08,²°.0¹4,¹9]icosa-1,3(7),5,8(20),9,11,14,16,18-nonaen-13-one) inhibited enzymatic activity by more than 50 % compared to DMSO as the control. Two candidates, (N-(9-oxo-9H-fluoren-3-yl)benzamide and 5-(4-bromonaphthalene-1-sulfonamido)-2-hydroxybenzoic acid), were identified with considerable cytotoxicity towards drug-sensitive CCRF-CEM and multidrug-resistant CEM/ADR5000 leukemia cells. Microscale thermophoresis revealed the binding of N-(9-oxo-9H-fluoren-3-yl)benzamide and 5-(4-bromonaphthalene-1-sulfonamido)-2-hydroxybenzoic acid to purified HDAC6 protein. Both compounds induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner as analyzed by flow cytometry. In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time that these two compounds bind to HDAC6, inhibit its function, and exert cytotoxic activity by apoptosis induction.

Vitamin K3 chloro derivative (VKT-2) inhibits HDAC6, activates autophagy and apoptosis, and inhibits aggresome formation in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Epigenetics plays a vital role in regulating gene expression and determining the specific phenotypes of eukaryotic cells. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are important epigenetic regulatory proteins effecting multiple biological functions. Particularly, HDAC6 has become a promising anti-cancer drug target because of its regulation of cell mobility, protein trafficking, degradation of misfolded proteins, cell growth, apoptosis, and metastasis. In this study, we identified one out of six vitamin K3 derivatives, VKT-2, as HDAC6 inhibitor using molecular docking and cell viability assays in HDAC6-overexpressing HuH-7 cancer cells. Microscale thermophoresis and HDAC6 enzymatic assays revealed that VKT-2 bound to HDAC6 and inhibited its function. We further identified its cytotoxic activity. VKT-2 hyperacetylated HDAC6 substrates and disturbed tubulin integrity leading to significant inhibition of tumor migration in both HuH-7 spheroids and U2OS-GFP-α-tubulin cells. Moreover, VKT-2 induced autophagic and apoptotic cell death in HuH-7, while aggresome formation was restrained after VKT-2 treatment. A HuH-7 cell-xenograft model in zebrafish larvae provided evidence that VKT-2 inhibited the tumor growth in vivo. To best of our knowledge, it is the first time to demonstrate that vitamin k3 derivatives (VKT-2) inhibits HDAC6 in solid tumor cells. These unique findings suggested that VKT-2 is a promising anti-cancer agent targeting HDAC6.

Collateral sensitivity of drug-resistant ABCB5- and mutation-activated EGFR overexpressing cells towards resveratrol due to modulation of SIRT1 expression.

BACKGROUND: In the drug discovery field, natural products deemed a precious source of novel lead compounds. They have the ability to bypass or overcome multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells. PURPOSE: In this study, the natural polyphenolic stilbene resveratrol (RES) has been studied for its cytotoxic activity toward MDR cancer cells. METHODS: Resazurin assay was used to investigate the cytotoxicity of RES not only against a panel of drug-resistant cancer cells overexpressing P-glycoprotein/ABCB1, BCRP/ABCG2, ABCB5 (ATP-binding cassette transporters), but also mutation-activated EGFR. The assessment of proteins expression was done by Western blot analysis. COMPARE and hierarchical cluster analyses were applied to identify, which genes correlate with sensitivity or resistance to RES. The NF-κB activation was evaluated using NF-kB reporter cells assay. RESULTS: Interestingly, MDR cells overexpressing ABCB5 and mutation-activated EGFR were collateral sensitive (CS) to RES. Our immunoblotting analysis highlighted that CS may be attributed to RES-induced sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) overexpression. Indeed, the SIRT1 inhibitor, sirtinol completely abolished CS to RES, indicating a causative role of SIRT1 for CS to RES. In addition, COMPARE and hierarchical cluster analyses of transcriptomic data indicated genes associated with diverse cellular mechanisms ranging from the immune response, inflammation signaling, and microtubule formation to cell migration. Searching for transcription factor binding motifs in the promoters of these genes pointed to NF-κB as one of the master regulators related to RES activity. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate that RES alone or in combination with established chemotherapeutic agents might overcome the refractory tumors. This information may be immensely useful for the development of personalized treatment.

Potential Deoxycytidine Kinase Inhibitory Activity of Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids: An In Silico Approach.

BACKGROUND: Plants of the Amaryllidaceae family have been under intense scrutiny for the presence of a couple of alkaloidal secondary metabolites with endued cytotoxic activity, such as pancratistatin (1), 7-deoxypancratistatin (2), narciclasine (3), 7-deoxynarciclasine (4), trans-dihydronarciclasine (5), and 7-deoxy-trans-dihydronarciclasine (6). Nevertheless, preclinical evaluation of these alkaloids has been put on hold because of the limited quantity of materials available from isolation. AIM: To explore the underlying cytotoxic molecular mechanisms of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (1-6) and to assess their absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) profiles using chemoinformatic tools. MATERIALS AND METHODS: AutoDock 4.0 software along with different in silico chemoinformatic tools, namely PharmMapper, Molinspiration, MetaPrint2D, and admetSAR servers, were used to assess the drugability of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (1-6). RESULTS: Deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) (PDB: 1P60) was predicted as a potential target with fitting score of 5.574. In silico molecular docking of (1-6) into dCK revealed good interactions, where interesting hydrogen bonds were observed with the amino acid residues-Gly-28 and Ser-35-located in the highly conserved P-loop motif. This motif plays a special role in dCK function. Contrary to (1), in silico pharmacokinetic results have shown good absorption and permeation and thus good oral bioavailability for (2-6). CONCLUSION: The in silico docking data have proposed that the reported cytotoxic activity of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (1-6) could be mediated through dCK inhibition. In addition, the ADMET profile of these alkaloids is promising and thus (1-6) could be candidates for future drug development.

Valproic acid as a potential inhibitor of Plasmodium falciparum histone deacetylase 1 (PfHDAC1): an in silico approach.

A new Plasmodium falciparum histone deacetylase1 (PfHDAC1) homology model was built based on the highest sequence identity available template human histone deacetylase 2 structure. The generated model was carefully evaluated for stereochemical accuracy, folding correctness and overall structure quality. All evaluations were acceptable and consistent. Docking a group of hydroxamic acid histone deacetylase inhibitors and valproic acid has shown binding poses that agree well with inhibitor-bound histone deacetylase-solved structural interactions. Docking affinity dG scores were in agreement with available experimental binding affinities. Further, enzyme-ligand complex stability and reliability were investigated by running 5-nanosecond molecular dynamics simulations. Thorough analysis of the simulation trajectories has shown that enzyme-ligand complexes were stable during the simulation period. Interestingly, the calculated theoretical binding energies of the docked hydroxamic acid inhibitors have shown that the model can discriminate between strong and weaker inhibitors and agrees well with the experimental affinities reported in the literature. The model and the docking methodology can be used in screening virtual libraries for PfHDAC1 inhibitors, since the docking scores have ranked ligands in accordance with experimental binding affinities. Valproic acid calculated theoretical binding energy suggests that it may inhibit PfHDAC1.