Cancer and pathogenic microbial diseases have terribly affected human health over a longer period of time. In response to the increasing casualties due to cancer and microbial diseases, unique poly(3-methylthiophene) and poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate composite were prepared via in-situ oxidative chemical polymerization in this work. The poly(3-methylthiophene) and poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate composite were well characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. DNA binding studies by UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopic investigations indicated strong binding affinities of poly(3-methylthiophene) and poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate nanocomposite; leading to structural damage of DNA. Poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate nanocomposite showed stronger interactions with DNA as compared to poly(3-methylthiophene) and from dye displacement assay it was confirmed that mode of binding of both the formulations was intercalative. The antimicrobial screening revealed that polymer and its composite displayed stronger antibacterial effects than ampicillin against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium. Besides, the poly(3-methylthiophene) and poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate nanocomposite showed dose dependent effects towards estrogen receptor positive breast cancer (MCF-7) and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines; with poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate nanocomposite showing better activities against both cell lines. In all in-vitro biological investigations, poly(3-methylthiophene)-titanium(IV)phosphate composite showed superior properties to that of the pure poly(3-methylthiophene), which encouraged us to suggest its potential as future therapeutic gear in drug delivery and other allied fields.
The present study reports the synthesis of various new derivatives based on 5-aryl-2-bromo-3-hexylthiophene with moderate-to-good yields via a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. This coupling method involved the reaction of 2,5-dibromo-3-hexylthiophene with several arylboronic acids in order to synthesize corresponding thiophene derivatives under controlled and optimal reaction conditions. The different substituents (CH3, OCH3, Cl, F etc.) present on arylboronic acids are found to have significant electronic effects on the overall properties of new products. The synthesized thiophene molecules were studied for their haemolytic, biofilm inhibition and anti-thrombolytic activities, and almost all products showed potentially good properties. The compound 2-bromo-5-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)-3-hexylthiophenein particular exhibited the highest values for haemolytic and bio-film inhibition activities among all newly synthesized derivatives. In addition, the compound 2-bromo-3-hexyl-5-(4-iodophenyl)thiophene also showed high anti-thrombolytic activity, suggesting the potential medicinal applications of these newly synthesized compounds.
Chalcone derivatives have attracted increasing attention due to their numerous pharmacological activities. Changes in their structures have displayed high degree of diversity that has proven to result in a broad spectrum of biological activities. The present study highlights the synthesis of some halogen substituted chalcones 3(a-i) containing the 5-chlorothiophene moiety, their X-ray crystal structures and the evaluation of possible biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal and reducing power abilities. The results indicate the tested compounds show a varied range of inhibition values against all the tested microbial strains. Compound 3c with a p-fluoro substituent on the phenyl ring exhibits elevated antimicrobial activity, whereas the compounds 3e and 3f displayed the least antimicrobial activities. The compounds 3d, 3e, 3f and 3i showed good ferric and cupric reducing abilities, and the compounds 3b and 3c showed the weakest reducing power in the series.
The present study describes several novel 2,5-biaryl-3-hexylthiophene derivatives (3a-i) synthesized via a Pd(0)-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction in moderate to good yields. The novel compounds were also analyzed for their anti-thrombolytic, haemolytic, and biofilm inhibition activities. In addition, the anti-tumor activity was also evaluated in vitro for newly-synthesized compounds, where 3-hexyl-2,5-bis(4-(methylthio)phenyl)thiophene exhibited the best anti-tumor activity against 4T1 cells with IC50 value of 16 μM. Moreover, 2,5-bis(4-methylphenyl)-3-hexylthiophene showed the highest activity against MCF-7 cells with an IC50 value of 26.2 μM. On the other hand, the compound 2,5-bis(4-chloropheny)-3-hexylthiophene exhibited excellent biofilm inhibition activity. Furthermore, the compound 2,5-bis(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)-3-hexylthiophene also exhibited better anti-thrombolytic and hemolytic activity results as compared to the other newly-synthesized compounds.
Steroid-induced ocular hypertension (SIOH) is associated with topical and systemic use of steroids. However, SIOH-associated anterior and posterior segment morphological changes in rats have not been described widely. Here we describe the pattern of intraocular pressure (IOP) changes, quantitative assessment of trabecular meshwork (TM) and retinal morphological changes and changes in retinal redox status in response to chronic dexamethasone treatment in rats. We also evaluated the responsiveness of steroid-pretreated rat eyes to 5 different classes of antiglaucoma drugs that act by different mechanisms. Up to 80% of dexamethasone treated animals achieved significant and sustained IOP elevation. TM thickness was significantly increased and number of TM cells was significantly reduced in SIOH rats compared to the vehicle-treated rats. Quantitative assessment of retinal morphology showed significantly reduced thickness of ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner retina (IR) in SIOH rats compared to vehicle-treated rats. Estimation of retinal antioxidants including catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione showed significantly increased retinal oxidative stress in SIOH animals. Furthermore, steroid-treated eyes showed significant IOP lowering in response to treatment with 5 different drug classes. This indicated the ability of SIOH eyes to respond to drugs acting by different mechanisms. In conclusion, SIOH was associated with significant morphological changes in TM and retina and retinal redox status. Additionally, SIOH eyes also showed IOP lowering in response to drugs that act by different mechanisms of action. Hence, SIOH rats appear to be an inexpensive and noninvasive model for studying the experimental antiglaucoma drugs for IOP lowering and neuroprotective effects.
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play fundamental roles in maintaining peripheral tolerance to prevent autoimmunity and limit legitimate immune responses, a feature hijacked in tumor microenvironments in which the recruitment of Tregs often extinguishes immune surveillance through suppression of T-effector cell signaling and tumor cell killing. The pharmacological tuning of Treg activity without impacting on T conventional (Tconv) cell activity would likely be beneficial in the treatment of various human pathologies. PIP4K2A, 2B, and 2C constitute a family of lipid kinases that phosphorylate PtdIns5P to PtdIns(4,5)P 2 They are involved in stress signaling, act as synthetic lethal targets in p53-null tumors, and in mice, the loss of PIP4K2C leads to late onset hyperinflammation. Accordingly, a human single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) near the PIP4K2C gene is linked with susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. How PIP4Ks impact on human T cell signaling is not known. Using ex vivo human primary T cells, we found that PIP4K activity is required for Treg cell signaling and immunosuppressive activity. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of PIP4K in Tregs reduces signaling through the PI3K, mTORC1/S6, and MAPK pathways, impairs cell proliferation, and increases activation-induced cell death while sparing Tconv. PIP4K and PI3K signaling regulate the expression of the Treg master transcriptional activator FOXP3 and the epigenetic signaling protein Ubiquitin-like containing PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1). Our studies suggest that the pharmacological inhibition of PIP4K can reprogram human Treg identity while leaving Tconv cell signaling and T-helper differentiation to largely intact potentially enhancing overall immunological activity.
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common malignancy and is the second leading cause of cancer among men globally. Using a kinome-wide lentiviral small-hairpin RNA (shRNA) library screen, we identified phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDPK1) as a potential mediator of cell survival in PCa cells. We showed that knock-down of endogenous human PDPK1 induced significant tumour-specific cell death in PCa cells (DU145 and PC3) but not in the normal prostate epithelial cells (RWPE-1). Further analyses revealed that PDPK1 mediates cancer cell survival predominantly via activation of serum/glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 3 (SGK3). Knock-down of endogenous PDPK1 in DU145 and PC3 cells significantly reduced SGK3 phosphorylation while ectopic expression of a constitutively active SGK3 completely abrogated the apoptosis induced by PDPK1. In contrast, no such effect was observed in SGK1 and AKT phosphorylation following PDPK1 knock-down. Importantly, PDPK1 inhibitors (GSK2334470 and BX-795) significantly reduced tumour-specific cell growth and synergized docetaxel sensitivity in PCa cells. In summary, our results demonstrated that PDPK1 mediates PCa cells' survival through SGK3 signalling and suggest that inactivation of this PDPK1-SGK3 axis may potentially serve as a novel therapeutic intervention for future treatment of PCa.
Metformin, an AMPK activator, has been reported to improve pathological response to chemotherapy in diabetic breast cancer patients. To date, its mechanism of action in cancer, especially in cancer stem cells (CSCs) have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that metformin, but not other AMPK activators (e.g. AICAR and A-769662), synergizes 5-fluouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) combination chemotherapy in non-stem breast cancer cells and breast cancer stem cells. We show that this occurs through an AMPK-dependent mechanism in parental breast cancer cell lines. In contrast, the synergistic effects of metformin and FEC occurred in an AMPK-independent mechanism in breast CSCs. Further analyses revealed that metformin accelerated glucose consumption and lactate production more severely in the breast CSCs but the production of intracellular ATP was severely hampered, leading to a severe energy crisis and impairs the ability of CSCs to repair FEC-induced DNA damage. Indeed, addition of extracellular ATP completely abrogated the synergistic effects of metformin on FEC sensitivity in breast CSCs. In conclusion, our results suggest that metformin synergizes FEC sensitivity through distinct mechanism in parental breast cancer cell lines and CSCs, thus providing further evidence for the clinical relevance of metformin for the treatment of cancers.