TY  - JOUR
JF  - Molecules
KW  - CM03
KW  -  drug synergy
KW  -  gemcitabine resistance
KW  -  histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor vorinostat
KW  -  naphthalene diimide derivative
KW  -  pancreatic cancer
KW  -  quadruplex
A1  - Ahmed, AA
A1  - Neidle, S
ID  - discovery10117135
N2  - The stabilisation of G-quadruplexes (G4s) by small-molecule compounds is an effective approach for causing cell growth arrest, followed by cell death. Some of these compounds are currently being developed for the treatment of human cancers. We have previously developed a substituted naphthalene diimide G4-binding molecule (CM03) with selective potency for pancreatic cancer cells, including gemcitabine-resistant cells. We report here that CM03 and the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor SAHA (suberanilohydroxamic acid) have synergistic effects at concentrations close to and below their individual GI_{50} values, in both gemcitabine-sensitive and resistant pancreatic cancer cell lines. Immunoblot analysis showed elevated levels of ?-H2AX and cleaved PARP proteins upon drug combination treatment, indicating increased levels of DNA damage (double-strand break events: DSBs) and apoptosis induction, respectively. We propose that the mechanism of synergy involves SAHA relaxing condensed chromatin, resulting in higher levels of G4 formation. In turn, CM03 can stabilise a greater number of G4s, leading to the downregulation of more G4-containing genes as well as a higher incidence of DSBs due to torsional strain on DNA and chromatin structure.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25225407
N1  - © 2020 by the Authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
IS  - 22
TI  - A G-Quadruplex-Binding Small Molecule and the HDAC Inhibitor SAHA (Vorinostat) Act Synergistically in Gemcitabine-Sensitive and Resistant Pancreatic Cancer Cells
Y1  - 2020/11/02/
AV  - public
VL  - 25
ER  -