Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Musashino University, 1-1-20 Shinmachi, Nishitokyo-shi, Tokyo, 202-8585, Japan.
Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Musashino University, 1-1-20 Shinmachi, Nishitokyo-shi, Tokyo, 202-8585, Japan.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2022 Mar 12;596:104-110. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2022.01.076. Epub 2022 Jan 22.
Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling is an intracellular signaling pathway involved in inflammatory responses and the pathogenesis of various cancers, including ependymoma, which is a rare and chemotherapy-resistant glioma. Several isoforms of fusion proteins that consist of a nuclear protein, zinc finger translocation associated (ZFTA), and RELA (ZFTA-RELA), an NF-κB-signaling effector transcription factor, cause excessive activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway and result in supratentorial ependymomas (ST-EPN-RELA). As inhibitors of NF-κB activity induced by ZFTA-RELA are expected to be therapeutic agents for ST-EPN-RELA, we established an NF-κB responsive luciferase reporter cell line that expresses the most common isoform of ZFTA-RELA in a doxycycline-dependent manner. Using this reporter cell line, we screened fungus extracts for compounds that inhibit the NF-κB activity induced by ZFTA-RELA expression and identified aszonalenin, an alkaloid from Aspergillus novofumigatus. We also purified analogs of aszonalenin, namely acetylaszonalenin and epi-aszonalenin B and C. In a luciferase assay using cells constitutively expressing luciferase (counter assay), acetylaszonalenin and epi-aszonalenin C showed non-specific inhibition of the luciferase activity. Aszonalenin and epi-aszonalenin B inhibited the NF-κB responsive luciferase activity by expressing ZFTA-RELA more strongly than the luciferase activity in the counter assay. The upregulation of endogenous NF-κB responsive genes, such as CCND1, ICAM1, and L1CAM, by ZFTA-RELA expression was inhibited by epi-aszonalenin B, but not by aszonalenin. This study suggests that epi-aszonalenin B may be a lead compound for the therapeutic development of ST-EPN-RELA.
核因子-κB(NF-κB)信号通路是一种参与炎症反应和各种癌症发病机制的细胞内信号通路,包括室管膜瘤,这是一种罕见且对化疗有抗性的脑胶质瘤。几种融合蛋白的异构体由核蛋白锌指转录因子关联(ZFTA)和 RELA(ZFTA-RELA)组成,后者是 NF-κB 信号通路的效应转录因子,导致 NF-κB 信号通路的过度激活,导致幕上室管膜瘤(ST-EPN-RELA)。由于 ZFTA-RELA 诱导的 NF-κB 活性抑制剂有望成为 ST-EPN-RELA 的治疗药物,我们建立了一种 NF-κB 反应性荧光素酶报告细胞系,该细胞系以依赖于强力霉素的方式表达最常见的 ZFTA-RELA 异构体。使用该报告细胞系,我们筛选了真菌提取物中抑制 ZFTA-RELA 表达诱导的 NF-κB 活性的化合物,并鉴定出asperzonenin,这是一种来自烟曲霉的生物碱。我们还纯化了 asperzonenin 的类似物,即乙酰 asperzonenin 和 epi-aszonalenin B 和 C。在使用细胞持续表达荧光素酶的荧光素酶测定(对照测定)中,乙酰 asperzonenin 和 epi-aszonalenin C 显示出对荧光素酶活性的非特异性抑制。Asperzonenin 和 epi-aszonalenin B 通过表达 ZFTA-RELA 比对照测定中的荧光素酶活性更强地抑制 NF-κB 反应性荧光素酶活性。ZFTA-RELA 表达上调内源性 NF-κB 反应性基因,如 CCND1、ICAM1 和 L1CAM,被 epi-aszonalenin B 抑制,但不被 asperzonenin 抑制。这项研究表明,epi-aszonalenin B 可能是治疗 ST-EPN-RELA 的先导化合物。