2-Pyridin-4-yl-methylene-beta-boswellic Acid-A Potential Candidate for Targeting O6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase Epi-transcriptional Reprogramming in KRAS G13D-Microsatellite Stable, G12V-Microsatellite Instable Mutant Colon Cancer.

PMBA (2-Pyridin-4-yl-methylene-beta-boswellic acid), screened from among the 21 novel series of semisynthetic analogues of ß-boswellic acid, is being presented as a lead compound for integrative management of KRAS mutant colorectal cancer (CRC), upon testing and analysis for its anticancerous activity on a panel of NCI-60 cancer cell lines and in vivo models of the disease. PMBA (1.7-29 µM) exhibited potent proliferation inhibition on the cell lines and showed sensitivity in microsatellite instability and microsatellite stable (GSE39582 and GSE92921) subsets of KRAS gene (Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog)-mutated colon cell lines, as revealed via flow cytometry analysis. A considerable decrease in mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway downstream effectors was observed in the treated cell lines via the western blot and STRING (Search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes/proteins) analysis. PMBA was further found to target KRAS at its guanosine diphosphate site. Treatment of the cell lines with PMBA showed significant reduction in MGMT promoter methylation but restored MGMT (O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) messenger ribonucleic acid expression via significant demethylation of the hypermethylated CpG (Cytosine phosphate guanine) sites in the MGMT promoter. A significant decrease in dimethylated H3K9 (Dimethylation of lysine 9 on histone 3) levels in the MGMT promoter in DNA hypo- and hypermethylated HCT-116G13D and SW-620G12V cells was observed after treatment. In the MNU (N-methyl-N-nitrosourea)-induced CRC in vivo model, PMBA instillation restricted and repressed polyp formation, suppressed tumor proliferation marker Ki67 (Marker of proliferation), ablated KRAS-associated cytokine signaling, and decreased mortality. Clinical trial data for the parent molecule revealed its effectiveness against the disease, oral bioavailability, and system tolerance. Comprehensively, PMBA represents a new class of KRAS inhibitors having a therapeutic window in the scope of a drug candidate. The findings suggest that the PMBA analogue could inhibit the growth of human CRC in vivo through downregulation of cancer-associated biomarkers as well as reactivate expression of the MGMT gene associated with increased H3K9 acetylation and H3K4 methylation with facilitated transcriptional activation, which might be important in silencing of genes associated with upregulation in the activity of KRAS.

Synergistic combination of PMBA and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in targeting mutant KRAS in 2D and 3D colorectal cancer cells.

ß-Boswellic acid (ß-BA), a potent NF-kB signaling pathway inhibitor, has shown synergistic anti-cancerous activity (NCT03149081, NCT00243022 and NCT02977936) in various clinical trials as complementary therapies. The study has been conducted to investigate the effect and efficacy of 2-pyridin-4-yl methylene ß-boswellic acid (PMBA) and 5-Flourouracil (5-FU) in combination therapy for the treatment of KRAS mutant colon cancer. Analysis of isobologram showed synergistic combination index (CI > 1) of PMBA and 5-FU against the HCT-116 G13D and SW-620 G12V cell lines. The growth-inhibiting PMBA also caused apoptosis mediating effects with dose-dependent increase in caspase-3 activity, while inhibiting the formation of colonies in combination with 5-FU. As evident, PMBA affected colorectal 3D CSC properties including the ability to self-renew along with the expression of multi-drug resistance genes, viz., ABCB1, ABCC1 and ALDH1A1, ALDH1A2, ALDH1A3, ALDH3A1, and CSC markers like CD44, CD166, EPCAM, OCT-4, SOX-2, and NANOG compared with those in 2D model explaining the expression pattern of oncogenic KRAS G13D, G12V mutation. When examined for plasma level of PMBA (20 mg) and PMBA+5-FU (20 + 40 mg), a time-dependent increase in the level of the drug (5-FU) was detected, indicating its absorption and bioavailability with excellent half-life of the PMBA for both routes of administration (IV and Oral), thereby indicating a new adjuvant therapy for KRAS mutant colon cancer.

Physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, efficacy and toxicity profiling of a potential nitrofuranyl methyl piperazine derivative IIIM-MCD-211 for oral tuberculosis therapy via in-silico-in-vitro-in-vivo approach.

Recent tuberculosis (TB) drug discovery programme involve continuous pursuit for new chemical entity (NCE) which can be not only effective against both susceptible and resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) but also safe and faster acting with the target, thereby shortening the prolonged TB treatments. We have identified a potential nitrofuranyl methyl piperazine derivative, IIIM-MCD-211 as new antitubercular agent with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 0.0072 µM against H37Rv strain. Objective of the present study is to investigate physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, efficacy and toxicity profile using in-silico, in-vitro and in-vivo model in comprehensive manner to assess the likelihood of developing IIIM-MCD-211 as a clinical candidate. Results of computational prediction reveal that compound does not violate Lipinski's, Veber's and Jorgensen's rule linked with drug like properties and oral bioavailability. Experimentally, IIIM-MCD-211 exhibits excellent lipophilicity that is optimal for oral administration. IIIM-MCD-211 displays evidence of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) induction but no inhibition ability in rhodamine cell exclusion assay. IIIM-MCD-211 shows high permeability and plasma protein binding based on parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA) and rapid equilibrium dialysis (RED) assay model, respectively. IIIM-MCD-211 has adequate metabolic stability in rat liver microsomes (RLM) and favourable pharmacokinetics with admirable correlation during dose escalation study in Swiss mice. IIIM-MCD-211 has capability to appear into highly perfusable tissues. IIIM-MCD-211 is able to actively prevent progression of TB infection in chronic infection mice model. IIIM-MCD-211 shows no substantial cytotoxicity in HepG2 cell line. In acute toxicity study, significant increase of total white blood cell (WBC) count in treatment group as compared to control group is observed. Overall, amenable preclinical data make IIIM-MCD-211 ideal candidate for further development of oral anti-TB agent.

Par-4 dependent modulation of cellular ß-catenin by medicinal plant natural product derivative 3-azido Withaferin A.

Here, we provide evidences that natural product derivative 3-azido Withaferin A (3-AWA) abrogated EMT and invasion by modulating ß-catenin localization and its transcriptional activity in the prostate as well as in breast cancer cells. This study, for the first time, reveals 3-AWA treatment consistently sequestered nuclear ß-catenin and augmented its cytoplasmic pool as evidenced by reducing ß-catenin transcriptional activity in these cells. Moreover, 3-AWA treatment triggered robust induction of pro-apoptotic intracellular Par-4, attenuated Akt activity and rescued Phospho-GSK3ß (by Akt) to promote ß-catenin destabilization. Further, our in vitro studies demonstrate that 3-AWA treatment amplified E-cadherin expression along with sharp downregulation of c-Myc and cyclin D1 proteins. Strikingly, endogenous Par-4 knock down by siRNA underscored 3-AWA mediated inhibition of nuclear ß-catenin was Par-4 dependent and suppression of Par-4 activity, either by Bcl-2 or by Ras transfection, restored the nuclear ß-catenin level suggesting Par-4 mediated ß-catenin regulation was not promiscuous. In vivo results further demonstrated that 3-AWA was effective inhibitor of tumor growth and immunohistochemical studies indicated that increased expression of total ß-catenin and decreased expression of phospho-ß-catenin and Par-4 in breast cancer tissues as compared to normal breast tissue suggesting Par-4 and ß-catenin proteins are mutually regulated and inversely co-related in normal as well as cancer condition. Thus, strategic regulation of intracellular Par-4 by 3-AWA in diverse cancers could be an effective tool to control cancer cell metastasis. Conclusively, this report puts forward a novel approach of controlling deregulated ß-catenin signaling by 3-AWA induced Par-4 protein.