Bicyclic triterpenoid Iripallidal induces apoptosis and inhibits Akt/mTOR pathway in glioma cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The highly resistant nature of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) to chemotherapy prompted us to evaluate the efficacy of bicyclic triterpenoid Iripallidal against GBM in vitro.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The effect of Iripallidal on proliferation and apoptosis in glioma cell lines was evaluated by MTS, colony formation and caspase-3 activity. The effect of iripallidal to regulate (i) Akt/mTOR and STAT3 signaling (ii) molecules associated with cell cycle and DNA damage was evaluated by Western blot analysis. The effect of Iripallidal on telomerase activity was also determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Iripallidal (i) induced apoptosis, (ii) inhibited Akt/mTOR and STAT3 signaling, (iii) altered molecules associated with cell cycle and DNA damage, (iv) inhibited telomerase activity and colony forming efficiency of glioma cells. In addition, Iripallidal displayed anti-proliferative activity against non-glioma cancer cell lines of diverse origin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ability of Iripallidal to serve as a dual-inhibitor of Akt/mTOR and STAT3 signaling warrants further investigation into its role as a therapeutic strategy against GBM.</p

RHPS4 G-quadruplex ligand induces anti-proliferative effects in brain tumor cells

Background Telomeric 3’ overhangs can fold into a four-stranded DNA structure termed G-quadruplex (G4), a formation which inhibits telomerase. As telomerase activation is crucial for telomere maintenance in most cancer cells, several classes of G4 ligands have been designed to directly disrupt telomeric structure. Methods We exposed brain tumor cells to the G4 ligand 3,11-difluoro-6,8,13-trimethyl-8H-quino[4,3,2-kl]acridinium methosulfate (RHPS4) and investigated proliferation, cell cycle dynamics, telomere length, telomerase activity and activated c-Myc levels. Results Although all cell lines tested were sensitive to RHPS4, PFSK-1 central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal cells, DAOY medulloblastoma cells and U87 glioblastoma cells exhibited up to 30-fold increased sensitivity compared to KNS42 glioblastoma, C6 glioma and Res196 ependymoma cells. An increased proportion of S-phase cells were observed in medulloblastoma and high grade glioma cells whilst CNS PNET cells showed an increased proportion of G1-phase cells. RHPS4-induced phenotypes were concomitant with telomerase inhibition, manifested in a telomere length-independent manner and not associated with activated c-Myc levels. However, anti-proliferative effects were also observed in normal neural/endothelial cells in vitro and ex vivo. Conclusion This study warrants in vivo validation of RHPS4 and alternative G4 ligands as potential anti-cancer agents for brain tumors but highlights the consideration of dose-limiting tissue toxicities

Telomerase Inhibition Targets Clonogenic Multiple Myeloma Cells through Telomere Length-Dependent and Independent Mechanisms

Plasma cells constitute the majority of tumor cells in multiple myeloma (MM) but lack the potential for sustained clonogenic growth. In contrast, clonotypic B cells can engraft and recapitulate disease in immunodeficient mice suggesting they serve as the MM cancer stem cell (CSC). These tumor initiating B cells also share functional features with normal stem cells such as drug resistance and self-renewal potential. Therefore, the cellular processes that regulate normal stem cells may serve as therapeutic targets in MM. Telomerase activity is required for the maintenance of normal adult stem cells, and we examined the activity of the telomerase inhibitor imetelstat against MM CSC. Moreover, we carried out both long and short-term inhibition studies to examine telomere length-dependent and independent activities.Human MM CSC were isolated from cell lines and primary clinical specimens and treated with imetelstat, a specific inhibitor of the reverse transcriptase activity of telomerase. Two weeks of exposure to imetelstat resulted in a significant reduction in telomere length and the inhibition of clonogenic MM growth both in vitro and in vivo. In addition to these relatively long-term effects, 72 hours of imetelstat treatment inhibited clonogenic growth that was associated with MM CSC differentiation based on expression of the plasma cell antigen CD138 and the stem cell marker aldehyde dehydrogenase. Short-term treatment of MM CSC also decreased the expression of genes typically expressed by stem cells (OCT3/4, SOX2, NANOG, and BMI1) as revealed by quantitative real-time PCR.Telomerase activity regulates the clonogenic growth of MM CSC. Moreover, reductions in MM growth following both long and short-term telomerase inhibition suggest that it impacts CSC through telomere length-dependent and independent mechanisms

Telomere uncapping by the G-quadruplex ligand RHPS4 inhibits clonogenic tumour cell growth in vitro and in vivo consistent with a cancer stem cell targeting mechanism

The pentacyclic acridinium methosulfate salt RHPS4 induces the 3′single-stranded guanine-rich telomeric overhang to fold into a G-quadruplex structure. Stabilisation of the latter is incompatible with an attachment of telomerase to the telomere and thus G-quadruplex ligands can effectively inhibit both the catalytic and capping functions of telomerase. In this study, we examined mechanisms underlying telomere uncapping by RHPS4 in uterus carcinoma cells (UXF1138L) with short telomeres and compared the susceptibility of bulk and clonogenic cancer cells to the G-quadruplex ligand. We show that treatment of UXF1138L cells with RHPS4 leads to the displacement of the telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) from the nucleus, induction of telomere-initiated DNA-damage signalling and chromosome fusions. We further report that RHPS4 is more potent against cancer cells that grow as colonies in soft agar than cells growing as monolayers. Human cord blood and HEK293T embryonic kidney cell colony forming units, however, were more resistant to RHPS4. RHPS4-treated UXF1138L xenografts had a decreased clonogenicity, showed loss of nuclear hTERT expression and an induction of mitotic abnormalities compared with controls. Although single-agent RHPS4 had limited in vivo efficacy, a combination of RHPS4 with the mitotic spindle poison Taxol caused tumour remissions and further enhancement of telomere dysfunction