Clinic for Gynecology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2019 May;113:108727. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2019.108727. Epub 2019 Mar 12.
The chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin typically induces apoptosis by inhibiting the cell cycle. Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs), which are a proliferative quiescent and slowly-cycling cell population, are less sensitive and therefore frequently spared from toxic effects. Thus, it remains a priority to increase the sensitivity of CSCs to cisplatin-based chemotherapy, or to specifically target CSCs to improve the therapeutic outcome in breast cancer. Disulfiram (DSF) is a drug used clinically for alcoholism treatment that has displayed promising anti-cancer activity in vitro and in cancer xenografts in breast cancer. Our study provides evidence that DSF inhibits Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzyme activity, inhibits the expression of stemness-related transcription factors (Sox, Nanog, Oct) in CSC derived from breast cancer cell lines, and modulates intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Importantly, our research proved that ALDH + stem-like cells play important roles in the resistance to the conventional chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. DSF enhances the cytotoxic effect of cisplatin through inhibiting the stemness and by overcoming cisplatin resistance of ALDH + stem-like cells. A quantitative measurement showed the synergistic effect of DSF and cisplatin. Further, we show that ALDH + cancer stem-like cells and ALDH- bulk cancer cells have different intrinsic ROS levels, what may explain differences in susceptibility to cisplatin treatment. Importantly, this difference is eliminated by DSF treatment making both cell types similarly susceptible for cytotoxic effects by cisplatin. These findings may influence chemotherapeutic treatment approaches in the future.
顺铂等化疗药物通常通过抑制细胞周期诱导细胞凋亡。癌症干细胞(CSCs)是增殖静止和缓慢循环的细胞群体,其敏感性较低,因此经常免受毒性作用的影响。因此,提高 CSCs 对顺铂为基础的化疗的敏感性,或者专门针对 CSCs 以改善乳腺癌的治疗效果仍然是当务之急。双硫仑(DSF)是一种用于治疗酗酒的临床药物,在体外和乳腺癌的癌症异种移植物中显示出有希望的抗癌活性。我们的研究提供了证据表明,DSF 抑制醛脱氢酶(ALDH)酶活性,抑制源自乳腺癌细胞系的 CSC 中与干细胞相关的转录因子(Sox、Nanog、Oct)的表达,并调节细胞内活性氧(ROS)的产生。重要的是,我们的研究证明 ALDH+干细胞样细胞在对常规化疗药物顺铂的耐药性中起着重要作用。DSF 通过抑制干细胞特性并克服 ALDH+干细胞样细胞对顺铂的耐药性,增强顺铂的细胞毒性作用。定量测量显示 DSF 和顺铂具有协同作用。此外,我们表明 ALDH+癌症干细胞样细胞和 ALDH-肿瘤细胞具有不同的内在 ROS 水平,这可能解释了对顺铂治疗的敏感性差异。重要的是,这种差异通过 DSF 处理消除,使两种细胞类型对顺铂的细胞毒性作用同样敏感。这些发现可能会影响未来的化疗治疗方法。