Anbalagan Muralidharan

Discovery, design, and synthesis of anti-metastatic lead phenylmethylene hydantoins inspired by marine natural products

The Red Sea sponge Hemimycale arabica afforded the known (Z)-5-(4-hydroxybenzylidene)-hydantoin (1), (R)-5-(4-hydroxybenzyl)hydantoin (2), and (Z)-5-((6-bromo-1H-indol-3-yl)methylene)-hydantoin (3). The natural phenylmethylene hydantoin (PMH) 1 and the synthetic (Z)-5-(4-(ethylthio)benzylidene)-hydantoin (4) showed potent in vitro anti-growth and anti-invasive properties against PC-3M prostate cancer cells in MTT and spheroid disaggregation assays. PMHs 1 and 4 also showed significant anti-invasive activities in orthotopic xenograft and transgenic mice models. To study the effect of electronic and lipophilic parameters on the activity, a wide array of several substituted aldehydes possessing electron-withdrawing (+sigma), lipophilic (+pi), electron-donating (-sigma), and less lipophilic substituents (-pi) were used to synthesize several PMHs. Few des-phenylmethylenehydantoins and 2-thiohydanoins were also synthesized and the anti-invasive activities of all compounds were evaluated. Comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) was then used to study the 3D QSAR. Predictive 3D QSAR model with conventional r(2) and cross validated coefficient (q(2)) values up to 0.910 and 0.651 were established. In conclusion, PMH is a novel antimetastatic lead class with potential to control metastatic prostate cancer.

Latrunculin A and Its C-17-O-Carbamates Inhibit Prostate Tumor Cell Invasion and HIF-1 Activation in Breast Tumor Cells

The marine-derived macrolides latrunculins A ( 1) and B, from the Red Sea sponge Negombata magnifica, have been found to reversibly bind actin monomers, forming a 1:1 complex with G-actin and disrupting its polymerization. The microfilament protein actin is responsible for several essential functions within the cell such as cytokinesis and cell migration. One of the main binding pharmacophores of 1 to G-actin was identified as the C-17 lactol hydroxyl moiety that binds arginine 210 NH. Latrunculin A-17- O-carbamates 2- 6 were prepared by reaction with the corresponding isocyanates. Latrunculin A ( 1) and carbamates 4- 6 displayed potent anti-invasive activity against the human highly metastatic human prostate cancer PC-3M cells in a Matrigel assay at a concentration range of 50 nM to 1 microM. Latrunculin A ( 1, 500 nM) decreased the disaggregation and cell migration of PC-3M-CT+ spheroids by 3-fold. Carbamates 4 and 5 were 2.5- and 5-fold more active than 1, respectively, in this assay with less actin binding affinity. Latrunculin A ( 1, IC 50 6.7 microM) and its 17- O-[ N-(benzyl)carbamate ( 6, IC 50 29 microM) suppress hypoxia-induced HIF-1 activation in T47D breast tumor cells.

Cadherin Switching and Activation of β-Catenin Signaling Underlie Proinvasive Actions of Calcitonin-Calcitonin Receptor Axis in Prostate Cancer

Calcitonin, a neuroendocrine peptide, and its receptor are localized in the basal epithelium of benign prostate but in the secretory epithelium of malignant prostates. The abundance of calcitonin and calcitonin receptor mRNA displays positive correlation with the Gleason grade of primary prostate cancers. Moreover, calcitonin increases tumorigenicity and invasiveness of multiple prostate cancer cell lines by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase-mediated actions. These actions include increased secretion of matrix metalloproteinases and urokinase-type plasminogen activator and an increase in prostate cancer cell invasion. Activation of calcitonin-calcitonin receptor autocrine loop in prostate cancer cell lines led to the loss of cell-cell adhesion, destabilization of tight and adherens junctions, and internalization of key integral membrane proteins. In addition, the activation of calcitonin-calcitonin receptor axis induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition of prostate cancer cells as characterized by cadherin switch and the expression of the mesenchymal marker, vimentin. The activated calcitonin receptor phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3, a key regulator of cytosolic β-catenin degradation within the WNT signaling pathway. This resulted in the accumulation of intracellular β-catenin, its translocation in the nucleus, and transactivation of β-catenin-responsive genes. These results for the first time identify actions of calcitonin-calcitonin receptor axis on prostate cancer cells that lead to the destabilization of cell-cell junctions, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and activation of WNT/β-catenin signaling. The results also suggest that cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase plays a key role in calcitonin receptor-induced destabilization of cell-cell junctions and activation of WNT-β-catenin signaling.

Identification of a small molecule class to enhance cell-cell adhesion and attenuate prostate tumor growth and metastasis

Expression of calcitonin (CT) and its receptor (CTR) is elevated in advanced prostate cancer, and activated CT-CTR autocrine axis plays a pivotal role in tumorigenicity and metastatic potential of multiple prostate cancer cell lines. Recent studies suggest that CT promotes prostate cancer metastasis by reducing cell-cell adhesion through the disassembly of tight and adherens junctions and activation of β-catenin signaling. We attempted to identify a class of molecules that enhances cell-cell adhesion of prostate cells and reverses the disruptive actions of CT on tight and adherens junctions. Screening several compounds led to the emergence of phenyl-methylene hydantoin (PMH) as a lead candidate that can augment cell-cell adhesion and abolish disruptive actions of CT on junctional complexes. PMH reduced invasiveness of PC-3M cells and abolished proinvasive actions of CT. Importantly, PMH did not display significant cytotoxicity on PC-3M cells at the tested doses. I.p. administered PMH and its S-ethyl derivative remarkably decreased orthotopic tumor growth and inhibited the formation of tumor micrometastases in distant organs of nude mice. PMH treatment also reduced the growth of spontaneous tumors in LPB-Tag mice to a significant extent without any obvious cytotoxic effects. By virtue of its ability to stabilize cell junctions, PMH could reverse the effect of CT on junctional disruption and metastasis, which strengthens the possibility of using PMH as a potential drug candidate for CT-positive androgen-independent prostate cancers. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(3):509–20]

Calcitonin promotes in vivo metastasis of prostate cancer cells by altering cell signaling, adhesion, and inflammatory pathways

Expression of calcitonin (CT) and its receptor (CTR) is elevated in advanced prostate cancer (PC). Although the significance of CT-CTR axis in PC cell growth, invasion, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition has been established, its role in tumor metastasis has not been examined. To examine the role of CT-CTR axis in tumor metastasis, we employed stable CT-CTR activated and silenced system of three PC cell lines, LNCaP cells that lack endogenous CT, PC-3 cells that lack endogenous CTR, and PC-3M cells that co-express CT and CTR. Enforced expression of CT in LNCaP cells and CTR in PC-3 cells increased their ability to form orthotopic tumors and distant metastases in multiple organs. By contrast, silencing of CT expression in PC-3M cells not only reduced their tumorigenicity, but also completely abrogated their metastatic potential. To investigate the effect of in vivo silencing of CT expression on tumor growth, we employed recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) to deliver anti-CT ribozymes in preexisting tumors of nude mice and large probasin promoter (LPB)-Tag transgenic mice. rAAV-CT(-) treatment not only abrogated the growth of pre-implanted tumors in nude mice, but also significantly reduced the growth of spontaneous tumors in LPB-Tag mice. Analysis of CT upregulated and silenced PC-3M transcriptomes revealed 105 genes affected by the modulation of CT expression. These CT signature genes generated survival, adhesion, pro-inflammatory, and pro-metastatic pathways. Added together, these data indicate a pivotal role for CT-CTR axis in PC metastasis and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for advanced PC.

Biocatalytic and semisynthetic optimization of the anti-invasive tobacco (1S,2E,4R,6R,7E,11E)-2,7,11-cembratriene-4,6-diol

Tobacco cembranoids were reported to inhibit tumorigenesis. Biocatalysis of (1S,2E,4R,6R,7E,11E)-2,7,11-cembratriene-4,6-diol (1) using the symbiotic Bacillus sp. NC5, Bacillus sp. NK8, and Bacillus sp. NK7, isolated from the Red Sea sponge Negombata magnifica, afforded two new and four known hydroxylated metabolites 3-8. The use of symbiotic marine bacteria as biocatalysts for bioactive natural product scaffolds is very rare. Cembranoid 1 carbamate analogs 9-11 were prepared by its reaction with corresponding isocyanates. Cembranoid 1 and its bioconversion and carabamate products show anti-invasive activity against the human highly metastatic prostate PC-3M cancer cell line at 10-50 nM doses in Matrigel assay.