Center for Education and Research on Clinical Pharmacy, Showa Pharmaceutical University, 3-3165 Higashi-Tamagawagakuen, Machida, Tokyo, 194-8543, Japan.
BioMedical Laboratory, Department of Research, Kitasato Institute Hospital, Tokyo, 108-8642, Japan.
Mol Cell Biochem. 2020 Sep;472(1-2):187-198. doi: 10.1007/s11010-020-03796-6. Epub 2020 Jun 21.
In our previous study, we showed that prexasertib, a checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor, enhances the effects of standard drugs for pancreatic cancer, including gemcitabine (GEM), S-1, and the combination of GEM and S-1 (GS). The combination of prexasertib and GS has a strong antitumor effect and induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells by downregulating anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. In the present study, we investigated the combined effect of GEM, S-1, and prexasertib with a selective Bcl-2 inhibitor (venetoclax) and a non-selective Bcl-2 inhibitor (navitoclax) in SUIT-2 pancreatic cancer cells. An MTT assay revealed that the combination of prexasertib with navitoclax showed a synergistic effect but the combination with venetoclax did not. Investigation of the pancreatic cancer cell lines SUIT-2, MIA PaCa-2, and BxPC-3 revealed that BxPC-3 also showed a high synergistic effect when combined with prexasertib and navitoclax but not venetoclax. Mechanistic analysis of the combined effect showed that apoptosis was induced. Bcl-2 knockdown with siRNA and prexasertib treatment did not induce apoptosis, whereas Bcl-xL knockdown with siRNA and prexasertib treatment resulted in strong induction of apoptosis. In addition, among the three cell lines, the combined effect of prexasertib and navitoclax resulted in increased apoptotic cell death because the protein expression levels of Bcl-xL and Chk1 were higher. Our results demonstrate that the combination of prexasertib and navitoclax has a strong antitumor effect and induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells by downregulating Bcl-xL. Simultaneous inhibition of Chk1 and Bcl-xL could be a new strategy for treating pancreatic cancer.
在我们之前的研究中,我们表明,一种检查点激酶 1(Chk1)抑制剂普雷沙替尼(prexasertib)增强了胰腺癌的标准药物(包括吉西他滨[GEM]、替吉奥[S-1]以及 GEM 和 S-1 的联合用药[GS])的疗效。普雷沙替尼与 GS 的联合用药具有强大的抗肿瘤作用,并通过下调抗凋亡蛋白 Bcl-2 诱导胰腺癌细胞凋亡。在本研究中,我们研究了吉西他滨、替吉奥和普雷沙替尼与选择性 Bcl-2 抑制剂(venetoclax)和非选择性 Bcl-2 抑制剂(navitoclax)联合应用对 SUIT-2 胰腺癌细胞的影响。MTT 检测显示,普雷沙替尼与 navitoclax 的联合用药具有协同作用,但与 venetoclax 的联合用药则没有。对 SUIT-2、MIA PaCa-2 和 BxPC-3 三种胰腺癌细胞系的研究表明,BxPC-3 与普雷沙替尼和 navitoclax 的联合用药也具有高协同作用,但与 venetoclax 则没有。对联合用药的作用机制分析表明,细胞凋亡被诱导。用 siRNA 敲低 Bcl-2 并用普雷沙替尼处理不会诱导细胞凋亡,而用 siRNA 敲低 Bcl-xL 并用普雷沙替尼处理则导致强烈的细胞凋亡诱导。此外,在这三种细胞系中,普雷沙替尼和 navitoclax 的联合用药导致凋亡细胞死亡增加,因为 Bcl-xL 和 Chk1 的蛋白表达水平更高。我们的研究结果表明,普雷沙替尼与 navitoclax 的联合用药具有强大的抗肿瘤作用,并通过下调 Bcl-xL 诱导胰腺癌细胞凋亡。同时抑制 Chk1 和 Bcl-xL 可能成为治疗胰腺癌的一种新策略。