A naphthoquinone, 7-methyljuglone and some of its 5-hydroxy, 5-acetoxy-, 5-alkoxy- and 1,2,4,5-tetra-O-acetate derivatives were tested for their activity in four human cancer cell lines: breast adenocarcinoma, cervical epithelial carcinoma, oesophageal carcinoma and prostate epithelial carcinoma. Compound 2,5-dihydroxy-7-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone was found to be the most effective one (exhibited a fifty percent inhibitory concentration (IC50) in the range of 5.3 to 14.7 μM), while the parent compound 7-methyljuglone was less active than several of these derivatives. The IC50 values of 5-hydroxy-6-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone were found to be between 19.1 and 15.4 μM on the four cell lines. However this compound showed toxicity on peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Six derivatives were selected for mechanistic studies. Considering the findings from cell cycle analysis, caspase 3/7 activation and annexinV-FITC dual labelling, 5-hydroxy-6-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone was found to have antitumour effect by inducing apoptosis. Two derivatives namely, ‘8-fluoro-5-hydroxy-7- methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone’ and ‘2,5-dihydroxy-7-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone’ were found to be not toxic on peripheral blood mononuclear cells suggesting their action is specific for tumour cells. Compound 2,5-dihydroxy-7-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone was found to induce apoptosis through caspase 3/7 activation. In view of the enhanced potencies associated with these derivatives, these analogues may hold considerable therapeutic potential for the treatment of leukaemia cancers. The ethanol extracts of seven plant species (ethnobotanically selected) were also tested for their cytotoxicity, assayed by the XTT assay, against four human cancer cell lines at concentrations ranging from 0.78 to 100 μg/ml. Of all the ethanol extracts, Foeniculum vulgare was found to have the best activity on HeLa cells, which exhibited an IC50 value of 19.97± 0.048 μg/ml. Therefore, it was selected for isolation of the bioactive principles. The extract of Foeniculum vulgare was fractionated using column chromatography with hexane and ethyl acetate at different ratios as eluent. Two known compounds, ‘4-methoxycinnamyl alcohol’ and ‘syringin’ were isolated. The IC50 values of ‘4-methoxycinnamyl alcohol’ and ‘syringin’ were found to be 7.82 ± 0.28 μg/ml and 10.26 ± 0.18 μg/ml respectively on HeLa cells. Both compounds were tested for their cytotoxicity against U937 cells and also on peripheral blood mononuclear cells. At the concentrations of 10 and 100 μg/ml ‘4- methoxycinnamyl alcohol’ showed similar cell proliferation as that of the positive control ‘cisplatin’. ‘Syringin’ however, had much lower cytotoxicity on the U937 cells than ‘4- methoxycinnamyl alcohol’. IC50 was found to be 91.14 ± 0.63 μg/ml. Both ‘syringin’ and ‘4- methoxycinnamyl alcohol’ were not cytotoxic at concentrations of 1 and 10 μg/ml on the PBMCs as compared to cisplatin. ‘4-Methoxycinnamyl alcohol’ was selected based on its activity on the cancer cells, for further investigation with regard to its mechanism of action. On gel electrophoresis it did not show a typical ladder pattern, instead a characteristic smear resulted which indicated necrosis. Two best derivatives of 7-methyljuglone (‘8-fluoro-5-hydroxy-7-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone’ and ‘2,5-dihydroxy-7-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone’) and the ethanol extract of F. vulgare warrant further investigation to be considered for their potential as anticancer agents. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Plant Science / unrestricted

Integrin αvβ6 has emerged as a potential novel target for anticancer and plays a major role in promoting malignant tumor progression. Recent studies indicate that integrin αvβ6 occurs in many cancers. However, whether and how αvβ6 is regulated by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in breast cancer remain unknown. In the present study, two different short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) targeting the β6 gene were designed and constructed into pSUPER, respectively, which were transfected into the MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma cell line. The β6-shRNA stably transfected cells were successfully established, and significant lower levels of αvβ6 mRNA and protein expression were confirmed. Furthermore, inhibition of integrin αvβ6 markedly downregulated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) in tumor conditioned medium. Furthermore, β6-shRNA-mediated silencing of the αvβ6 gene obviously decreased the expression of ERK1/2. In particular, supression of integrin αvβ6 caused significant downregulation of the degradation of basement membrane type IV collagen secretion via modulation of the plasminogen activation cascade. Our results thus indicate that αvβ6 plays a fundamental role in promoting invasion and growth of breast adenocarcinoma cells. Taken together, this study revealed that targeting of the β6 gene by RNA interference (RNAi) could efficiently downregulate αvβ6 expression and suppress the ERK1/2-dependent extracellular matrix degradation in vitro, which is dependent upon inactivation of the mitogen-Activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. These findings may offer a useful therapeutic approach to block invasion and migration of breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ ABCG2), an ATP-binding cassette half transporter, confers multidrug resistance (MDR) to a series of antitumor agents such as mitoxantrone, daunorubicin, SN-38, and topotecan, and often limits the efficacy of chemotherapy. Recent studies have indicated that a putative estrogen response element (ERE) is located in the promoter region of the BCRP gene. However, whether and how BCRP is regulated transcriptionally by toremifene (TOR) remains unknown. In the present study, two plasmid vectors have been designed to express the wild-Type full-length BCRP cDNA enforced driven by its endogenous promoter containing a functional ERE and a constitutive cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter as control, respectively, which were transfected into estrogenresponsive MCF-7 and estrogen-independent MDA-MB-231 human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. We showed that toremifene alone significantly downregulated BCRP mRNA and protein levels in estrogen receptor a (ERa)-positiveMCF- 7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and the inhibitory effect was partially reversed by estrone (E1). Furthermore, gel shift assays demonstrated that specific binding of ERa to the ERE in the BCRP promoter is essential for transcriptional inhibition of BCRP by toremifene. Interestingly, toremifene alone increased the cellular accumulation of mitoxantrone inBCRPtransfected cells, suggesting that TOR indeed inhibits BCRPmediated drug efflux and overcome drug resistance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing a direct effect of toremifene on BCRP. Our results thus indicate that toremifene by itself downregulates BCRP expression to reverse BCRP-mediated atypical multidrug resistance via a novel transcriptionally mechanism, which might be involved inTOR-ERcomplexes binding to theEREofBCRP promoter to repress transcription of BCRP gene.

Les lymphocytes « Natural Killer » (NK) sont des effecteurs de l’immunité innée, capables de lyser les cellules cancéreuses grâce au relargage de la protéase cytotoxique Granzyme B (GzmB). Récemment, de nouvelles stratégies anti-cancéreuses, basées sur l’utilisation des cellules NK, ont émergé et se sont révélées très prometteuses. Il est maintenant clairement établi que le microenvironnement tumoral hypoxique influence la réponse immunitaire et constitue, de ce fait, un obstacle majeur pour établir des protocoles d’immunothérapies efficaces. Des études récentes ont montré que l’autophagie est un régulateur important de l’immunité innée dans le microenvironnement tumoral, mais les mécanismes de régulation impliqués restent encore peu connus. Nous avons montré in vitro que l'hypoxie diminue la sensibilité des cellules de carcinome mammaire à la lyse dépendante des cellules NK par un mécanisme impliquant l'activation de l'autophagie. De manière intéressante, cette diminution de lyse est reversée par l’inhibition de l’autophagie. Nous avons démontré que la résistance des cellules tumorales hypoxiques à la lyse par les cellules NK n'est liée ni à un défaut de reconnaissance des cellules cibles, ni à une altération de l’activité cytotoxique des effecteurs. Nous avons mis en évidence que l'activation de l’autophagie conduit à la dégradation de GzmB dans les lysosomes des cellules hypoxiques. Ainsi, ces cellules deviennent résistantes à l’apoptose, qui est normalement induite par GzmB, transféré par les cellules NK. L’invalidation génétique et pharmacologique de l'autophagie permet de restaurer le niveau intracellulaire de GzmB et réduit la résistance des cellules cibles hypoxiques in vitro. Nos résultats mettent en évidence que l'autophagie est un régulateur primordial de la réponse immunitaire anti-tumorale dépendante des cellules NK. Nous avons validé ce concept in vivo en montrant que l’inhibition de l'autophagie favorise de manière significative la prise en charge de la tumeur par les cellules NK dans des modèles murins de mélanome et de carcinome mammaire. Cette étude contribue à l’avancé des connaissances sur la manière dont l'autophagie, induite par l'hypoxie, affecte la lyse dépendante des cellules NK et ouvre la voie à la formulation de nouvelles stratégies thérapeutiques anti-tumorales combinant l’utilisation des cellules NK à des inhibiteurs d'autophagie. / Natural killer (NK) cells are effectors of the antitumor immunity, able to kill cancer cells through the release of the cytotoxic protease granzyme B. NK-based therapies have recently emerged as promising anticancer strategies. However, it is well established that hypoxic microenvironment interferes with the function of antitumor immune cells and constitutes a major obstacle for cancer immunotherapies. Recent studies demonstrated that autophagy is an important regulator of innate immune response in this microenvironment, but the mechanism by which autophagy regulates NK cell-mediated antitumor immune responses remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that hypoxia impairs breast cancer cell susceptibility to NK-mediated lysis in vitro via the activation of autophagy. This impairment was not related to a defect in target cell recognition by NK cells but to the degradation of NK-derived granzyme B in autophagosomes of hypoxic cells. Inhibition of autophagy by targeting beclin1 (BECN1) restored granzyme B levels in hypoxic cells in vitro and induced tumor regression in vivo by facilitating NK-mediated tumor cell killing. Together, our data highlight autophagy as a mechanism underlying the resistance of hypoxic tumor cells to NK-mediated lysis and provides a cutting-edge advance in our understanding of the underlying mechanism. This study might pave the way for the formulation of more effective NK cell-based antitumor therapies.

A Fosfoetanolamina sintética (Pho-s) é uma molécula análoga aos fosfolipídios de membrana celular com propriedades antitumorais, antiinflamatórias e antiproliferativas. Nosso grupo de pesquisa desenvolveu diversos estudos in vitro e in vivo com a Pho-s mostrando resultados satisfatórios quanto à sua eficácia antitumoral. Neste estudo foram avaliados os efeitos antitumorais in vitro da Pho-s e da formulação lipossomal DODAC/Pho-s em linhagem de adenocarcinoma de mama humana (MCF7). Os efeitos da citotoxicidade da Pho-s na linhagem tumoral MCF7 foi avaliado pela determinação da viabilidade celular pelo teste colorimétrico MTT e os valores obtidos da IC50% foram de 37,2; 25,8; 1,8 mM nos períodos de 24, 48 e 72 horas, respectivamente. Com o tratamento de DODAC vazio nas células MCF7 a IC50% foi de 0,3 mM e com o tratamento de DODAC/Pho-s a IC50% de 1,8 mM, após 24 horas de tratamento. A produção de radicais livres lipoperoxidados foi avaliada pela formação do TBARS em células MCF7, tratadas por 24, 48 e 72 horas com Pho-s, não mostrando diferença significativa nos valores de lipoperoxidação. As alterações nas distribuições das populações celulares nas fases do ciclo celular avaliadas por citometria de fluxo mostraram um aumento do DNA fragmentado após 48 horas e parada na fase G2/M após 24 horas. As alterações nos arranjos celulares foram avaliadas por meio da marcação com os fluorocromos acridine-orange e rodamina 123 por microscopia confocal a laser, no qual foi observada a mudança na morfologia, fragmentação de membranas e perdas da projeção de prolongamentos citoplasmáticos. A indução de células em senescência foi avaliada pela atividade enzimática com a enzima beta-galactosidase, mostrando uma diminuição das células senescentes nas maiores concentrações de tratamento com a Pho-s e com o DODAC/Pho-s. Diversos marcadores de controle e progressão do ciclo celular, stress, angiogênese e receptores hormonais e o potencial mitocondrial foram avaliados por citometria de fluxo. A atividade apoptótica das células tumorais de mama foi avaliada pela Anexina V/PI, mostrando um aumento, principalmente, da apoptose tardia e seus ensaios de proliferação celular pelo teste com o CFSE-DA resultou na diminuição significativa da capacidade de proliferação celular. O tratamento das células de adenocarcinoma de mama humana MCF7 com a Pho-s mostrou ser um composto de natureza fosfolipídica com potencial promissor antitumoral / Synthetic Phosphoethanolamine (Pho-s) is a molecule analogous to cell membrane phospholipids with antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative effects. Our research group has developed several in vitro and in vivo studies with Pho-s showing satisfactory results regarding its antitumor efficacy. In this project we evaluated the in vitro antitumor effects of Pho-s and the liposomal formulation DODAC/Pho-s in human breast adenocarcinoma line (MCF7). The effects of the Pho-s cytotoxicity on the MCF7 tumor cell line were evaluated by determining the cell viability by the MTT colorimetric test and the concentration of IC50% were 37.2; 25.8; 1.8 mM in the 24, 48 and 72 hour periods, respectively. With DODAC treatment in MCF7 cells the IC50% was 0.3 mM and the treatment of DODAC/Pho-s at IC50% of 1.8 mM after 24 hours of treatment. The production of lipoperoxides radicals was evaluated by the formation of TBARS in MCF7 cells, treated for 24, 48 and 72 hours with Pho-s, showing no significant difference in lipoperoxidation values. Changes in the cell population distributions in the cell cycle phases evaluated by flow cytometry showed an increase of the fragmented DNA after 48 hours and stop at the G2/M phase after 24 hours. Alterations in the cellular arrangements were evaluated by means of the labeling with the fluorochromes acridine-orange and rhodamine 123 using laser confocal microscopy, in which the change in morphology, membrane fragmentation and loss of the projection of cytoplasmic prolongations were observed. Senescent cell induction was evaluated by enzymatic activity with the ?-galactosidase enzyme, showing a decrease in senescent cells at the highest concentrations of treatment with Pho-s and DODAC/Pho-s. Several control markers and cell cycle progression, stress, angiogenesis and hormone receptors and mitochondrial potential were evaluated by flow cytometry. The apoptotic activity of breast tumor cells was evaluated by Annexin V/PI, showing an increase mainly of late apoptosis and cell proliferation assays by the CFSE-DA with the Pho-s by flow cytometry, resulting in significant decrease of cell proliferation. Treatment of MCF 7 human breast adenocarcinoma cells with Pho-s has been shown to be a phospholipid-type compound with promising antitumor potential

A Fosfoetanolamina sintética (Pho-s) é uma molécula análoga aos fosfolipídios de membrana celular com propriedades antitumorais, antiinflamatórias e antiproliferativas. Nosso grupo de pesquisa desenvolveu diversos estudos in vitro e in vivo com a Pho-s mostrando resultados satisfatórios quanto à sua eficácia antitumoral. Neste estudo foram avaliados os efeitos antitumorais in vitro da Pho-s e da formulação lipossomal DODAC/Pho-s em linhagem de adenocarcinoma de mama humana (MCF7). Os efeitos da citotoxicidade da Pho-s na linhagem tumoral MCF7 foi avaliado pela determinação da viabilidade celular pelo teste colorimétrico MTT e os valores obtidos da IC50% foram de 37,2; 25,8; 1,8 mM nos períodos de 24, 48 e 72 horas, respectivamente. Com o tratamento de DODAC vazio nas células MCF7 a IC50% foi de 0,3 mM e com o tratamento de DODAC/Pho-s a IC50% de 1,8 mM, após 24 horas de tratamento. A produção de radicais livres lipoperoxidados foi avaliada pela formação do TBARS em células MCF7, tratadas por 24, 48 e 72 horas com Pho-s, não mostrando diferença significativa nos valores de lipoperoxidação. As alterações nas distribuições das populações celulares nas fases do ciclo celular avaliadas por citometria de fluxo mostraram um aumento do DNA fragmentado após 48 horas e parada na fase G2/M após 24 horas. As alterações nos arranjos celulares foram avaliadas por meio da marcação com os fluorocromos acridine-orange e rodamina 123 por microscopia confocal a laser, no qual foi observada a mudança na morfologia, fragmentação de membranas e perdas da projeção de prolongamentos citoplasmáticos. A indução de células em senescência foi avaliada pela atividade enzimática com a enzima beta-galactosidase, mostrando uma diminuição das células senescentes nas maiores concentrações de tratamento com a Pho-s e com o DODAC/Pho-s. Diversos marcadores de controle e progressão do ciclo celular, stress, angiogênese e receptores hormonais e o potencial mitocondrial foram avaliados por citometria de fluxo. A atividade apoptótica das células tumorais de mama foi avaliada pela Anexina V/PI, mostrando um aumento, principalmente, da apoptose tardia e seus ensaios de proliferação celular pelo teste com o CFSE-DA resultou na diminuição significativa da capacidade de proliferação celular. O tratamento das células de adenocarcinoma de mama humana MCF7 com a Pho-s mostrou ser um composto de natureza fosfolipídica com potencial promissor antitumoral / Synthetic Phosphoethanolamine (Pho-s) is a molecule analogous to cell membrane phospholipids with antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative effects. Our research group has developed several in vitro and in vivo studies with Pho-s showing satisfactory results regarding its antitumor efficacy. In this project we evaluated the in vitro antitumor effects of Pho-s and the liposomal formulation DODAC/Pho-s in human breast adenocarcinoma line (MCF7). The effects of the Pho-s cytotoxicity on the MCF7 tumor cell line were evaluated by determining the cell viability by the MTT colorimetric test and the concentration of IC50% were 37.2; 25.8; 1.8 mM in the 24, 48 and 72 hour periods, respectively. With DODAC treatment in MCF7 cells the IC50% was 0.3 mM and the treatment of DODAC/Pho-s at IC50% of 1.8 mM after 24 hours of treatment. The production of lipoperoxides radicals was evaluated by the formation of TBARS in MCF7 cells, treated for 24, 48 and 72 hours with Pho-s, showing no significant difference in lipoperoxidation values. Changes in the cell population distributions in the cell cycle phases evaluated by flow cytometry showed an increase of the fragmented DNA after 48 hours and stop at the G2/M phase after 24 hours. Alterations in the cellular arrangements were evaluated by means of the labeling with the fluorochromes acridine-orange and rhodamine 123 using laser confocal microscopy, in which the change in morphology, membrane fragmentation and loss of the projection of cytoplasmic prolongations were observed. Senescent cell induction was evaluated by enzymatic activity with the ?-galactosidase enzyme, showing a decrease in senescent cells at the highest concentrations of treatment with Pho-s and DODAC/Pho-s. Several control markers and cell cycle progression, stress, angiogenesis and hormone receptors and mitochondrial potential were evaluated by flow cytometry. The apoptotic activity of breast tumor cells was evaluated by Annexin V/PI, showing an increase mainly of late apoptosis and cell proliferation assays by the CFSE-DA with the Pho-s by flow cytometry, resulting in significant decrease of cell proliferation. Treatment of MCF 7 human breast adenocarcinoma cells with Pho-s has been shown to be a phospholipid-type compound with promising antitumor potential