Michal Sabisz

Cancer stem cells and escape from drug-induced premature senescence in human lung tumor cells: implications for drug resistance and in vitro drug screening models.

In this study, using an in vitro human tumor model, we show that non-small lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells after treatment with DNA damaging antitumor drugs become permanently growth-arrested as a result of so-called drug-induced premature senescence (pseudo-senescence). However, a small fraction of drug-treated cells escapes pseudo-senescence that leads to re-growth of tumor cell population after drug treatment. We show that this re-growth is associated with the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in lung tumor cell population. We also document that re-growth of CSCs can be greatly delayed if lung tumor cells are treated with drug/caffeine combination that leads to the inhibition of the ATM/ATR pathway and decreased phosphorylation of PKB/Akt at Ser473. We show that in non-treated A549 cells caffeine by itself induces a reversible growth arrest that is associated with increased fraction of so-called side population cells, containing CSCs. These results point to the existence of an unknown, caffeine-sensitive mechanism that controls the number of CSCs in lung tumor cell population. Full characterization of this mechanism may lead to the development of innovative cancer therapies which are based on small molecular weight inhibitors of CSC differentiation and self-renewal, that mimic caffeine action. Our results have also important implications for drug screening tumor models in vitro.

Modulation of Cellular Response to Anticancer Treatment by Caffeine: Inhibition of Cell Cycle Checkpoints, DNA Repair and More

Caffeine and other methylxanthines produce multiple physiologic effects throughout the human body, many of these effects could potentially modulate the activity of anticancer therapy. Caffeine may directly interfere with drug transport to tumor cells by formation of mixed stacking complexes with polyaromatic drugs. If formed in cells, these complexes may also prevent of intercalating drugs from DNA binding and, in this way, lower their antitumor activity. Since many of potent carcinogens are polyaromatic compounds, formation of stacking complexes with carcinogens could be associated with anti-genotoxic activity of caffeine and its use in cancer chemoprevention. Caffeine has also been reported to inhibit ATM and ATR kinases which leads to the disruption of multiple DNA damage-responsive cell cycle checkpoints and greatly sensitizes tumor cells to antitumor agents which induce genotoxic stress. Caffeine may inhibit repair of DNA lesions through a direct interference with DNA-PK activity and other repair enzymes. A number of in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that caffeine modulates both innate and adaptive immune responses via inhibition of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-phosphodiesterase. Finally, another group of effects induced by caffeine is mediated through its inhibitory action on adenosine receptors. This may modulate the stability of HIF1 alpha as well as VEGF and interleukin-8 expression in tumor cells, which could have a direct impact on neovascularization of human tumors. In this review, we present different molecular mechanisms by which caffeine and other methylxanthines may directly or indirectly modulate the effect of antitumor treatment in tumor cells and in cancer patients.

DNA Structure and Integrity Checkpoints during the Cell Cycle and Their Role in Drug Targeting and Sensitivity of Tumor Cells to Anticancer Treatment

From all antitumor chemotherapeutics used in the treatment of human cancers, the most prominent group is constituted of agents which directly or indirectly induce DNA damage. Radiotherapy also primarily targets DNA and induces different DNA lesions. This may be surprising given the fact that DNA is not a perfect target for relatively unspecific small molecular weight drugs or γ-irradiation. However, the current view is that cellular response to DNA damage induced by antitumor agents, the so-called “cell context-driven effect”, is responsible for their higher killing effect and relative specificity toward cancerous compared to normal cells. DNA damaging agents with antitumor activity include compounds with divergent activities from drugs which directly or indirectly induce DNA strand breaks, covalently modify DNA bases, and change the chromatin structure and topology by inhibiting chromatin-modifying enzymes, such as DNA topoisomerases, histone deacetylases, or demethylases. Some drugs, e.g. DNA topoisomerase inhibitors, induce both DNA breaks and perturbations of the DNA structure. In addition, although inhibitors of tubulin polymerization are not classically recognized as DNA damaging agents, interference by these drugs with the mitotic spindle functions may also lead to production of chromosomal breaks during mitosis. This chromosomal damage could either kill tumor cells or induce additional genetic changes that may promote drug resistance. Successful progression through the cell cycle is controlled by a number of different regulatory mechanisms termed checkpoints.1 There are specific cell cycle checkpoints which are activated by changes in DNA structure and integrity induced by drug treatment during progression of cells through G1, S, G2, and M. DNA damage checkpoints are frequently * Phone: (4858) 3471749. Fax: (4858) 3471144. E-mail: as@chem.pg.gda.pl. † Gdansk University of Technology. ‡ Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. Chem. Rev. 2009, 109, 2951–2973 2951

Dual Inhibition of PI3K/Akt Signaling and the DNA Damage Checkpoint in p53-Deficient Cells with Strong Survival Signaling: Implications for Cancer Therapy

Natural (intrinsic) resistance of many tumor types to DNA damaging agents is closely associated with their capacity to undergo robust cell cycle arrest in G2/M. G2 arrest is regulated by the DNA damage checkpoint and by survival signaling, with a potential role of PI3K/Akt in checkpoint function. In this work, we wanted to clarify if inhibition of multiple checkpoint/survival pathways may confer better efficacy in the potentiation of genotoxic agents compared to inhibition of either pathway alone. We compared the influence of UCN-01, which affects both the DNA damage checkpoint and PI3K/Akt-mediated survival signaling, with the PI3K inhibitors wortmannin and LY294002 in p53-deficient M1 acute myeloid leukemia cells treated with the DNA damaging agent cisplatin. Our results show that direct inhibition of PI3K/Akt in G2-arrested cells by wortmannin or LY294002 strongly enhanced the cytotoxicity of cisplatin without influencing the G2 checkpoint. Unexpectedly, dual inhibition of both survival and checkpoint signaling by UCN-01, also increased the cytotoxicity of cisplatin, but to a lesser degree than wortmannin or LY294002. The differences in cytotoxicity were accompanied by differences in cell death pathways: direct inhibition of PI3K/Akt was accompanied by rapid apoptotic cell death during G2, whereas cells underwent mitotic transit and cell division followed by cell death during G1 when both checkpoint and survival signaling were inhibited. Our results elucidate a novel function for PI3K/Akt as a survival factor during DNA damage-induced G2 arrest and could have important pharmacological consequences for the application of response modulators in p53-deficient tumors with strong survival signaling.

Structural Determinants of Imidazoacridinones Facilitating Antitumor Activity Are Crucial for Substrate Recognition by ABCG2

Symadex is the lead acridine compound of a novel class of imidazoacridinones (IAs) currently undergoing phase II clinical trials for the treatment of various cancers. Recently, we have shown that Symadex is extruded by ABCG2-overexpressing lung cancer A549/K1.5 cells, thereby resulting in a marked resistance to certain IAs. To identify the IA residues essential for substrate recognition by ABCG2, we here explored the ability of ABCG2 to extrude and confer resistance to a series of 23 IAs differing at defined residue(s) surrounding their common 10-azaanthracene structure. Taking advantage of the inherent fluorescent properties of IAs, ABCG2-dependent efflux and drug resistance were determined in A549/K1.5 cells using flow cytometry in the presence or absence of fumitremorgin C, a specific ABCG2 transport inhibitor. We find that a hydroxyl group at one of the R1, R2, or R3 positions in the proximal IA ring was essential for ABCG2-mediated efflux and consequent IA resistance. Moreover, elongation of the common distal aliphatic side chain attenuated ABCG2-dependent efflux, thereby resulting in the retention of parental cell sensitivity. Hence, the current study offers novel molecular insight into the structural determinants that facilitate ABCG2-mediated drug efflux and consequent drug resistance using a unique platform of fluorescent IAs. Moreover, these results establish that the IA determinants mediating cytotoxicity are precisely those that facilitate ABCG2-dependent drug efflux and IA resistance. The possible clinical implications for the future design of novel acridines that overcome ABCG2-dependent multidrug resistance are discussed.

Increased cytotoxicity of an unusual DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor compound C-1305 toward HeLa cells with downregulated PARP-1 activity results from re-activation of the p53 pathway and modulation of mitotic checkpoints.

Our previous studies have shown that murine fibroblast cells, in which PARP-1 gene was inactivated by gene disruption, are extremely sensitive to triazoloacridone compound C-1305, an inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase II with unusual properties. Here, we show that pharmacological inhibition of PARP-1 activity by its inhibitor compound NU1025, sensitizes human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells to compound C-1305 compared to treatment with drug alone. Cytotoxic effect of drug/NU1025 of other topoisomerase II inhibitors varied depending on the dose of PARP-1 inhibitor. Increased cytotoxicity of topoisomerase II inhibitor/NU1025 combinations was attributable to the re-activation of the p53 pathway in drug-treated HeLa cells. This lead to a more stringent cell cycle checkpoint control during G2 and M and enhanced cell death by mitotic catastrophe induced by drug/NU1025 combinations. Interestingly, treatment of HeLa cells with NU1025 alone also increased p53 expression. This effect is, at least in part, related to the inhibition of proteasome activity by drug treatments. Together, our results show that concomitant inhibition of topoisomerase II and PARP-1 leads to the synergistic cytotoxic effect toward tumor cells that may be important for combination therapies with NU1025 and topoisomerase II inhibitors. We also confirmed our earlier work and show the important role of PARP-1 activity in the maintenance of the G2 arrest induced by DNA damaging drugs. Finally, based on our studies we propose that NU1025 and possibly other inhibitors of PARP-1 may be used as non-genotoxic agents to activate p53 in tumor cells with non-functional p53 pathways.

Cross-talk between DNA damage and cell survival checkpoints during G2 and mitosis: pharmacologic implications

In this study, we wanted to clarify the role of survivin-mediated survival signaling during G2 and M in tumor cells treated with DNA-damaging agents. As a cellular model, we selected MOLT-4 human T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia cells that overexpress survivin and nonfunctional p53. Treatment with melphalan, a classic DNA-damaging agent, led to the induction of the DNA damage checkpoint and growth arrest in the G2 phase of the cell cycle. Checkpoint abrogation by caffeine was accompanied by mitotic entry and rapid apoptotic cell death, whereas cells remaining in G2 remained viable during the same time interval. Unexpectedly, when the spindle checkpoint was activated following G2 abrogation, two different effects could be observed. If the microtubules of the melphalan-treated cells were destabilized by nocodazole, cells became arrested in prometaphase with low survivin levels and entered apoptosis. In contrast, if the microtubules of the melphalan-treated cells were stabilized by taxol, cells were still arrested in prometaphase, but apoptotic execution was inhibited. This effect is, most likely, directly mediated by survivin itself given its well-established antiapoptotic functions. In conclusion, depending on the way the spindle checkpoint was activated in cells with damaged DNA, cells could be either protected by survivin or die during mitosis. We suggest that the efficacy of DNA damage checkpoint abrogators used in combination with DNA-damaging agents may critically depend on whether DNA damage is able to invoke spindle checkpoint response and to activate survivin-associated survival signaling during mitosis. [Mol Cancer Ther 2005;4(12):2016–25]

Structural factors affecting affinity of cytotoxic oxathiole-fused chalcones toward tubulin

Synthesis, in vitro cytotoxic activity, and interaction with tubulin of (E)-1-(6-alkoxybenzo[d][1,3]oxathiol-5-yl)-3-phenylprop-2-en-1-one derivatives (2) are described. Some of the compounds demonstrated cytotoxic activity at submicromolar concentrations, and the activity could be related to interaction with tubulin at the colchicine binding site. Interaction of selected derivatives with tubulin was evaluated using molecular modeling, and two different modes of the interaction were identified. The proposed models demonstrate how particular structural fragments participate in binding to the tubulin and explain the importance of the fragments for cytotoxic activity. It was demonstrated that concerning binding to tubulin, the 6-alkoxybenzoxathiole ring can be considered as structural equivalent of trimethoxyphenyl motif of colchicine, podophyllotoxin or combretastatin A4. The observation opened new ways of rational modifications of several groups of tubulin binders.

Structural Factors Affecting Cytotoxic Activity of (E)-1-(Benzo[d ][1,3]oxathiol-6-yl)-3-phenylprop-2-en-1-one Derivatives

Derivatives of (E)‐1‐(5‐alkoxybenzo[d][1,3]oxathiol‐6‐yl)‐3‐phenylprop‐2‐en‐1‐one demonstrated exceptionally high in vitro cytotoxic activity, with IC50 values of the most active derivatives in the nanomolar range. To identify structural fragments necessary for the activity, several analogs deprived of selected fragments were prepared, and their cytotoxic activity was tested. It was found that the activity depends on combined effects of (i) the heterocyclic ring, (ii) the alkoxy group at position 5 of the benzoxathiole ring, and (iii) the substituents in the phenyl ring B. Replacement of the sulfur atom by oxygen does not influence the activity. None of the listed structural fragments alone assured high cytotoxic activity.

Chemical reactivity and antimicrobial activity of N-substituted maleimides

Several N-substituted maleimides containing substituents of varying bulkiness and polarity were synthesised and tested for antimicrobial and cytostatic activity. Neutral maleimides displayed relatively strong antifungal effect minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs in the 0.5–4 µg ml−1 range); their antibacterial activity was structure dependent and all were highly cytostatic, with IC50 values below 0.1 µg ml−1. Low antimicrobial but high cytostatic activity was noted for basic maleimides containing tertiary aminoalkyl substituents. Chemical reactivity and lipophilicity influenced antibacterial activity of neutral maleimides but had little if any effect on their antifungal and cytostatic action. N-substituted maleimides affected biosynthesis of chitin and β(1,3)glucan, components of the fungal cell wall. The membrane enzyme, β(1,3)glucan synthase has been proposed as a putative primary target of N-ethylmaleimide and some of its analogues in Candida albicans cells.