Drug-Resistance Biomarkers in Patient-Derived Colorectal Cancer Organoid and Fibroblast Co-Culture System.

Colorectal cancer, the third most commonly occurring tumor worldwide, poses challenges owing to its high mortality rate and persistent drug resistance in metastatic cases. We investigated the tumor microenvironment, emphasizing the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in the progression and chemoresistance of colorectal cancer. We used an indirect co-culture system comprising colorectal cancer organoids and cancer-associated fibroblasts to simulate the tumor microenvironment. Immunofluorescence staining validated the characteristics of both organoids and fibroblasts, showing high expression of epithelial cell markers (EPCAM), colon cancer markers (CK20), proliferation markers (KI67), and fibroblast markers (VIM, SMA). Transcriptome profiling was conducted after treatment with anticancer drugs, such as 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin, to identify chemoresistance-related genes. Changes in gene expression in the co-cultured colorectal cancer organoids following anticancer drug treatment, compared to monocultured organoids, particularly in pathways related to interferon-alpha/beta signaling and major histocompatibility complex class II protein complex assembly, were identified. These two gene groups potentially mediate drug resistance associated with JAK/STAT signaling. The interaction between colorectal cancer organoids and fibroblasts crucially modulates the expression of genes related to drug resistance. These findings suggest that the interaction between colorectal cancer organoids and fibroblasts significantly influences gene expression related to drug resistance, highlighting potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for overcoming chemoresistance. Enhanced understanding of the interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment can lead to advancements in personalized medical research..

Cell-line dependency in cerebral organoid induction: cautionary observations in Alzheimer's disease patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

The cerebral organoid (CO) model has been used in the study of various neurodegenerative diseases owing to its physiological implications. However, the CO model may only be representative of certain clinical findings in affected patients, while some features are not recapitulated. In this study, we found that neurons in the CO model from patients with Alzheimer's disease were less responsive to depolarization, in contrast to previous reports. This difference may be partly attributed to the variations in brain spatial identity depending on the genetic background of the induced pluripotent stem cells. Our current observation raises concerns that the phenotypes observed in the CO model need to be carefully evaluated for their clinical implications.

Histone deacetylase inhibitor stimulate CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity in HepG2 cells.

The expression of CYP3A4 gene is induced by a variety of structurally unrelated xenobiotics including the antibiotic rifampicin, pregnenolone 16-carbonitrile (PCN), and endogenous hormones, that might mediate through steroid and xenobiotic receptor (SXR) system. The molecular mechanisms underlying regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression have not been understood. In order to gain the insight of the molecular mechanism of CYP3A4 gene expression, study has been undertaken to investigate if the histone deacetylation is involved in the regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression by proximal promoter in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. Also we have investigated to see if SXR is involved in the regulation of CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. HepG2 cells were transfected with a plasmid pCYP3A4-Luc containing approximately 1 kb of the CYP3A4 proximal promoter region (-863 to +64 bp) in front of a reporter gene, luciferase, in the presence or absence of pSAP-SXR. In HepG2 cells, CYP3A4 inducers, such as rifampicin, PCN and RU486 showed minimal stimulation of CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity in the absence of SXR and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. 4-Dimethylamino-N-[4-(2-hydroxycarbamoylvinyl)benzyl]benzamide (IN2001), a new class HDAC inhibitor significantly increased CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity over untreated control cells and rifampicin concomitant treatment with IN2001 increased further CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity that was stimulated by IN2001. The results of this study demonstrated that both HDAC inhibitors and SXR are essential to increase of CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity by CYP3A4 inducers such as PCN, rifampicin, and RU486. Especially SXR seems to be important for the dose dependent response of CYP3A4 inducing chemicals to stimulate CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity. Also this data suggested that HDAC inhibitors seemed to facilitate the CYP3A4 proximal promoter to be activated by chemicals.

Trichostatin A, a histone deacetylase inhibitor stimulate CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity in Hepa-I cells.

Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) is the most abundant CYPs in human liver, comprising approximately 30% of the total liver CYPs contents and is involved in the metabolism of more than 60% of currently used therapeutic drugs. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression have not been understood. Thus, this study has been carried out to gain the insight of the molecular mechanism of CYP3A4 gene expression, investigating if the histone deacetylation is involved in the regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression by proximal promoter. Also SXR was investigated to see if they were involved in the regulation of CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity. Hepa-I cells were transfected with a plasmid containing approximately 1 kb of the human CYP3A4 proximal promoter region (863 to +64 bp) cloned in front of a reporter gene, luciferase, in the presence or absence of SXR. Transfected cells were treated with CYP3A4 inducers such as rifampicin, PCN and RU 486, in order to examine the regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression in the presence or absence of trichostatin A (TSA). In Hepa-I cells, CYP3A4 inducers increased modestly the luciferase activity when TSA was co-treated, but this increment was not enhanced by SXR cotransfection. Taken together, these results indicated that the inhibition of histone deacetylation was required to SXR-mediated increase in CYP3A4 proximal promoter region when rifampicin, or PCN was treated. Further a trans-activation by SXR may demand other species-specific transcription factors.

In vitro pharmacodynamics of CKD-602 in HT-29 cells.

CKD-602 (7-[2-(N-isopropylamino)ethyl]-(20S)-camptothecin) is a recently-developed synthetic camptothecin analogue and currently under clinical development by Chong Kun Dang Pharm (Seoul, Korea). CKD-602 showed potent topoisomerase inhibitory activity in vitro and broad antitumor activity against various human tumor cells in vitro and in vivo in animal models. This study describes the pharmacodynamics of the immediate and delayed cytotoxicity induced by CKD-602 in a human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line, HT-29, and its intracellular drug accumulation by HPLC. The present study was designed to address whether the higher activity of CKD-602 with prolonged exposure is due to delayed exhibition of cytotoxicity and/or an accumulation of antiproliferative effect on continuous drug exposure. The drug uptake study was performed to determine whether the delayed cytotoxicity is due to a slow drug accumulation in cells. CKD-602 produced a cytotoxicity that was exhibited immediately after treatment (immediate effect) and after treatment had been terminated (delayed effect). Both the immediate and delayed effects of CKD-602 showed a time dependent decrease in IC50 values. Drug uptake was biphasic and the second equilibrium level was obtained as early as at 24 hr, indicating that the cumulative and delayed antitumor effects of CKD-602 were not due to slow drug uptake. On the other hand, CKD-602 treatment was sufficient to induce delayed cytotoxicity after 4 hr, however, longer treatment (>24 hr) enhanced its cytotoxicity due to the intracellular accumulation of the drug, which requires 24 hr to reach maximum equilibrium concentration. In addition, Cn x T=h analysis (n=0.481) indicated that increased exposure times may contribute more to the overall antitumor activity of CKD-602 than drug concentration. Additional studies to determine the details of the intracellular uptake kinetics (e.g., concentration dependency and retention studies) are needed in order to identify the optimal treatment schedules for the successful clinical development of CKD-602.