Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Goulielmaki, Maria
• Assimomytis, Nikos
• Rozanc, Jan
• Taki, Eleni
• Christodoulou, Ioannis
• Alexopoulos, Leonidas G.
• Zoumpourlis, Vassilis
• Pintzas, Alexandros
• Papahatjis, Demetris

Titel

DPS-2: A Novel Dual MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT Pathway Inhibitor with Powerful Ex Vivo and In Vivo Anticancer Properties

Ist Teil von

• Translational oncology, 2019-07, Vol.12 (7), p.932-950

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Development of novel bioactive compounds against KRAS and/or BRAF mutant colorectal cancer (CRC) is currently an urgent need in oncology. In addition, single or multitarget kinase inhibitors against MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT pathways are of potential therapeutic advantage. A new compound based on the benzothiophene nucleus was synthesized, based on previous important outcomes on other pharmaceutical preparations, to be tested as potential anticancer agent. Treatments by 2-5 μM DPS-2 of several CRC and melanoma cell lines bearing either BRAF or KRAS mutations have shown a remarkable effect on cell viability in 2D and 3D cultures. More detailed analysis has shown that DPS-2 can kill cancer cells by apoptosis, reducing at the same time their autophagy properties. After testing activities of several signaling pathways, the compound was found to have a dual inhibition of two major proliferative/survival pathways, MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT, in both CRC and melanoma, thus providing a mechanistic evidence for its potent anticancer activity. Antitumor activity of DPS-2 was further validated in vivo, as DPS-2 treatment of mouse xenografts of Colo-205 colorectal cancer cells remarkably reduced their tumor formation properties. Our findings suggest that DPS-2 has significant anti-KRAS/ anti-BRAF mutant CRC activity in preclinical models, potentially providing a novel treatment strategy for these difficult-to-treat tumors, which needs to be further exploited.