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Glycine plays a key role in rapidly proliferating cancer cells such as A549 cells. Targeting glycine metabolism is considered as a potential means for cancer treatment. However, the drug-induced alterations in glycine metabolism have not yet been investigated. Herein, a total of 34 glycine metabolites were examined in A549 cells with or without anticancer drug treatment. This work showed all tested anticancer agents could alter glycine metabolism in A549 cells including inhibition of pyruvate metabolism and down-regulation of betaine aldehyde and 5′-phosphoribosylglycinamide. Principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least-squares discrimination analysis exhibited the difference between control and each drug-treated group. In general, cisplatin, camptothecin, and SAHA could induce the significant down-regulation of more metabolites, compared with afatinib, gefitinib, and targretin. Both glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and purine metabolism were significantly disturbed by the treatment with afatinib, gefitinib, and targretin. However, the treatment using cisplatin, camptothecin, and SAHA was considered to be highly responsible for the perturbation of glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and cysteine and methionine metabolism. Finally, multivariate analysis for control and all drug-treated groups revealed 11 altered metabolites with a significant difference. It implies anti-cancer agents with different mechanisms of action might induce different comprehensive changes of glycine metabolomics. The current study provides fundamental insights into the acquisition of the role of anti-cancer agents in glycine metabolism while suppressing cancer cell proliferation, and may aid the development of cancer treatment targeting glycine metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: [Zn2(ClQ)4(CH3OH)2] (1), [Zn(BrQ)2(H2O)2] (2), [Zn2(ClIQ)4] (3) and [Cu(BrQ)2] (4) (H-ClQ = 5,7-dichloro-8-hydroxylquinoline, H-BrQ = 5,7-dibromo-8-hydroxylquinoline, and H-ClIQ = 5-chloro-7-iodo-8-hydroxylquinoline) were synthesized. Compounds 1–4 showed high anti-proliferative cytotoxicities against BEL-7404, SK-OV-3, NCI-H460 tumor cells, and HL-7702 normal cells in vitro, with IC50 values in the 1.4 nM to 32.13 μM range. Compounds 2–4 exhibited significantly enhanced cytotoxicity against BEL-7404 cell line, comparing with free 5,7-dihalo-8-quinolinol. Western blotting analysis showed that 2, 3 depleted mutant p53 protein in MDA-MB-231, and compound 2 decreased the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax in NCI-H460 significantly. The binding abilities of 1–4 to DNA were stronger than that of free quinolinol ligand. Intercalation is the probable binding mode for the complexes and free quinolinol ligands with DNA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Ganglioside GM3, belonging to glycosphingolipid family, has been known as tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen on several types of tumor. Many studies have revealed that GM3 plays a role in cell proliferation, adhesion and differentiation, which is crucial in the process of cancer development. In the present study, we firstly synthesized novel mannose-containing GM3 analogues by enzymatic hydrolysis and chemical procedures. Then the antiproliferative activity of the novel analogues along with galactose-containing analogues we prepared previously was investigated and the data demonstrated that these analogues exhibited antiproliferative effect on K562 and HCT116 cells. Finally, the influence of these analogues on tumor cell migration was studied on B16, B16-F10 and HCCLM3 cells by wound healing test, because the migration of tumor cells represents one of the relevant factors in assessing the malignancy of cancer. This study could lay the foundation for optimizing leading compounds and provide valuable information for finding new antitumor drugs for cancer therapy. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Two novel mannose containing ganglioside GM3 analogues were synthesized by chemoenzymatic method. • Synthesized GM3 analogues exhibit inhibitory effects on tumor cell growth and migration. • This work can facilitate the study of GM3 analogues with antitumor activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Transferrin has shown potential in the delivery of anticancer drugs into primarily proliferating malignant cells that over-express transferrin receptors. Constructing transferrin receptor targeted drug delivery system has been widespread concerned. In this study, whether transferrin could transport noncovalent binding drugs into cancer cells has been investigated. Two representative compounds, doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox) and vanadocene dichloride (Cp2VCl2), have been chosen to study the interactions with h-Tf and apo-Tf, and the influences in the presence of h-Tf and apo-Tf by using fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and MTT assay. The results have shown that both doxorubicin and Cp2VCl2 could bind to h-Tf and apo-Tf but with different binding modes. The results of MTT assay demonstrate that the presence of both h-Tf and apo-Tf has enhanced the antiproliferative activity of Cp2VCl2. However, the anticancer activity of the mixture of doxorubicin and h-Tf is basically the same as that of doxorubicin does. Our studies indicate that transferrin plays an important role in the transport and targeted delivery of Cp2VCl2 into cancer cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been documented in many malignancies as participating in the progression of cancer cells. Here, we present a novel EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, ZZC4, and examine its effect on cancer cell proliferation, migration, and tumor-bearing xenograft models. The antiproliferative effect of ZZC4 was assessed in vitro by MTT assay, colony formation, and wound healing assay and in vivo with tumor-bearing xenograft nude mice. Further, Western blotting analysis and computational network pharmacology were used to explore and understand the mechanism of ZZC4. The results showed that ZZC4 potently inhibited the proliferation of lung, breast, and melanoma cells, and was more sensitive to lung cancer cells HCC827, H1975, and breast cancer cell T47D. In vitro findings were corroborated in vivo as results showed the suppressive effect of ZZC4 on HCC827 and H1975 tumor growth. Western blotting analysis confirmed that ZZC4 is an effective inhibitor of the EGFR pathways as it down-regulated p-EGFR, p-Akt, and p-MAPK. Computational molecular docking confirmed the strong binding affinity between ZZC4 and EGFR. Moreover, network pharmacology suggested that ZZC4 might play a suppressive role in the progression of malignancies with EGFR/PI-3K/Akt axis dysregulation or in cancer-related drug resistance. Our study showed that ZZC4 is an anticancer drug candidate. • ZZC4 is a novel purine-containing EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor. • ZZC4 potently inhibited the proliferation and tumor growth of lung and breast cancer cells. • Network pharmacology can be used the determine the possible target of small molecules drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]