EF24, a novel curcumin analog, disrupts the microtubule cytoskeleton and inhibits HIF-1.
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Curcumin, the yellow pigment of the spice turmeric, has emerged as a promising anticancer agent due to its antiproliferative and antiangiogenic properties. However, the molecular mechanism of action of this compound remains a subject of debate. In addition, curcumin's low bioavailability and efficacy profile in vivo further hinders its clinical development. This study focuses on the mechanism of action of EF24, a novel curcumin analog with greater than curcumin biological activity and bioavailability, but no increased toxicity. Treatment of MDA-MB231 breast and PC3 prostate cancer cells with EF24 or curcumin led to inhibition of HIF-1alpha protein levels and, consequently, inhibition of HIF transcriptional activity. This drug-induced HIF inhibition occurred in a VHL-dependent but proteasome-independent manner. We found that, while curcumin inhibited HIF-1alpha gene transcription, EF24 exerted its activity by inhibiting HIF-1alpha posttranscriptionally. This result suggested that the two compounds are structurally similar but mechanistically distinct. Another cellular effect that further differentiated the two compounds was the ability of EF24, but not curcumin, to induce microtubule stabilization in cells. EF24 had no stabilizing effect on tubulin polymerization in an in vitro assay using purified bovine brain tubulin, suggesting that the EF24-induced cytoskeletal disruption in cells may be the result of upstream signaling events rather than EF24 direct binding to tubulin. In summary, our study identifies EF24 as a novel curcumin-related compound possessing a distinct mechanism of action, which we believe contributes to the potent anticancer activity of this agent and can be further exploited to investigate the therapeutic potential of EF24. (+info)
Benzylidene derivatives of andrographolide inhibit growth of breast and colon cancer cells in vitro by inducing G(1) arrest and apoptosis.
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Is donor-acceptor hydrogen bonding necessary for 4,6-O-benzylidene-directed beta-mannopyranosylation? Stereoselective synthesis of beta-C-mannopyranosides and alpha-C-glucopyranosides.
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Tumor-specific cytotoxicity and type of cell death induced by sodium 5,6-benzylidene-L-ascorbate.
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The cytotoxic activity of sodium 5,6-benzylidene-L-ascorbate (SBA) against eight human cancer cell lines and three human normal cells was investigated, SBA showed slightly higher cytotoxicity against human tumor cell lines, as compared with normal cells, with a tumor-specificity index of 2.0. The human myelogenous leukemia cell lines (HL-60, ML-1, KG-1) were the most sensitive to SBA, followed by human oral squamous cell carcinoma (HSC-2, HSC-3, HSC-4) and human glioblastoma (T98G, U87MG). Human oral normal cells (gingival fibroblast, pulp cell, periodontal ligament fibroblast) were the most resistant. In contrast to actinomycin D, SBA induced little or no activation of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9 in the HSC-2, HSC-4, T98G and HL-60 cells, regardless of incubation time (either 6 or 24 h). SBA induced little or no internucleosomal DNA fragmentation after 6 h in all of these cells. However, prolonged treatment with SBA (24 h) induced a smear pattern of DNA fragmentation in the HSC-2, HSC-4 and T98G cells and a low level of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in the HL-60 cells. Electron microscopy demonstrated the destruction of mitochondrial structure and autophagocytosis of broken organelles by SBA in the HSC-2, HSC-4 and HL-60 cells. At higher concentrations of SBA, necrotic cell death was observed in the HSC-2 cells, but not in the T98G cells, where the production of acidic organelles (detected by acridine orange staining) was much lower than that attained by nutritional starvation, a well-defined method of inducing autophagy. The present study suggests that SBA induces various degrees of autophagic cell death, followed by either necrosis or apoptosis at laters stage, depending on the cell type. (+info)