Ghosalkar Jeevan, Sonawane Vinay, Pisal Tejal, Achrekar Swati, Pujari Radha, Chugh Ashish, Shastry Padma, Joshi Kalpana
Cell Biology Division, Cipla Ltd., Vikhroli, Mumbai 400083, India.
National Centre for Cell Sciences (NCCS), Pune 411007, India.
Cancers (Basel). 2022 Jun 29;14(13):3198. doi: 10.3390/cancers14133198.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive form of brain tumor with a median survival of approximately 12 months. With no new drugs in the last few decades and limited success in clinics for known therapies, drug repurposing is an attractive choice for its treatment. Here, we examined the efficacy of pyronaridine (PYR), an anti-malarial drug in GBM cells. PYR induced anti-proliferative activity in GBM cells with IC ranging from 1.16 to 6.82 µM. Synergistic activity was observed when PYR was combined with Doxorubicin and Ritonavir. Mechanistically, PYR triggered mitochondrial membrane depolarization and enhanced the ROS levels causing caspase-3 mediated apoptosis. PYR significantly decreased markers associated with proliferation, EMT, hypoxia, and stemness and upregulated the expression of E-cadherin. Interestingly, PYR induced the expression of intracellular as well as secretory Par-4, a tumor suppressor in GBM cells, which was confirmed using siRNA. Notably, Par-4 levels in plasma samples of GBM patients were significantly lower than normal healthy volunteers. Thus, our study demonstrates for the first time that PYR can be repurposed against GBM with a novel mechanism of action involving Par-4. Herewith, we discuss the role of upregulated Par-4 in a highly interconnected signaling network thereby advocating its importance as a therapeutic target.
胶质母细胞瘤(GBM)是一种侵袭性脑肿瘤,中位生存期约为12个月。在过去几十年中没有新药问世,已知疗法在临床上的成功率也有限,因此药物重新利用是其治疗的一个有吸引力的选择。在此,我们研究了抗疟药物咯萘啶(PYR)对GBM细胞的疗效。PYR在GBM细胞中诱导抗增殖活性,IC范围为1.16至6.82µM。当PYR与多柔比星和利托那韦联合使用时,观察到协同活性。从机制上讲,PYR触发线粒体膜去极化并提高活性氧水平,导致caspase-3介导的细胞凋亡。PYR显著降低与增殖、上皮-间质转化、缺氧和干性相关的标志物,并上调E-钙黏蛋白的表达。有趣的是,PYR诱导GBM细胞中细胞内以及分泌型肿瘤抑制因子Par-4的表达,这一点通过小干扰RNA得到证实。值得注意的是,GBM患者血浆样本中的Par-4水平显著低于正常健康志愿者。因此,我们的研究首次证明PYR可以通过涉及Par-4的新作用机制重新用于治疗GBM。在此,我们讨论上调的Par-4在高度互联的信号网络中的作用,从而倡导其作为治疗靶点的重要性。