Examination of fabrication conditions of acrylate-based hydrogel formulations for doxorubicin release and efficacy test for hepatocellular carcinoma cell.

The objective of the present study was to develop 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate-co-polyethylene methacrylate [p(HPMA-co-PEG-MEMA)] hydrogels that are able to efficiently entrap doxorubicin for the application of loco-regional control of the cancer disease. Systemic chemotherapy provides low clinical benefit while localized chemotherapy might provide a therapeutic advantage. In this study, effects of hydrogel properties such as PEG chains length, cross-linking density, biocompatibility, drug loading efficiency, and drug release kinetics were evaluated in vitro for targeted and controlled drug delivery. In addition, the characterization of the hydrogel formulations was conducted with swelling experiments, permeability tests, Fourier transform infrared, SEM, and contact angle studies. In these drug-hydrogel systems, doxorubicin contains amine group that can be expected a strong Lewis acid-base interaction between drug and polar groups of PEG chains, thus the drug was released in a timely fashion with an electrostatic interaction mechanism. It was observed that doxorubicin release from the hydrogel formulations decreased when the density of cross-linking, and drug/polymer ratio were increased while an increase in the PEG chains length of the macro-monomer (i.e. PEG-MEMA) in the hydrogel system was associated with an increase in water content and doxorubicin release. The biocompatibility of the hydrogel formulations has been investigated using two measures: cytotoxicity test (using lactate dehydrogenase assay) and major serum proteins adsorption studies. Antitumor activity of the released doxorubicin was assessed using a human SNU398 human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. It was observed that doxorubicin released from all of our hydrogel formulations which remained biologically active and had the capability to kill the tested cancer cells.

Imetelstat (a telomerase antagonist) exerts off­target effects on the cytoskeleton.

Telomerase is a cellular ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that plays a crucial role in telomere maintenance. This enzyme is expressed in approximately 90% of human tumors, but not in the majority of normal somatic cells. imetelstat sodium (GRN163L), is a 13-mer oligonucleotide N3'→P5' thio-phosphoramidate lipid conjugate, which represents the latest generation of telomerase inhibitors targeting the template region of the human functional telomerase RNA (hTR) subunit. In preclinical trials, this compound has been found to inhibit telomerase activity in multiple cancer cell lines, as well as in vivo xenograft mouse models. Currently, GRN163L is being investigated in several clinical trials, including a phase II human non­small cell lung cancer clinical trial, in a maintenance setting following standard doublet chemotherapy. In addition to the inhibition of telomerase activity in cancer cell lines, GRN163L causes morphological cell rounding changes, independent of hTR expression or telomere length. This leads to the loss of cell adhesion properties; however, the mechanism underlying this effect is not yet fully understood. In the present study, we observed that GRN163L treatment leads to the loss of adhesion in A549 lung cancer cells, due to decreased E-cadherin expression, leading to the disruption of the cytoskeleton through the alteration of actin, tubulin and intermediate filament organization. Consequently, the less adherent cancer cells initially cease to proliferate and are arrested in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, accompanied by decreased matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression. These effects of GRN163L are independent of its telomerase catalytic activity and may increase the therapeutic efficacy of GRN163L by decreasing the adhesion, proliferation and metastatic potential of cancer cells in vivo.

Mammalian telomeric DNA suppresses endotoxin-induced uveitis.

Telomeric regions of mammalian chromosomes contain suppressive TTAGGG motifs that inhibit several proinflammatory and Th1-biased immune responses. Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) expressing suppressive motifs can reproduce the down-regulatory activity of mammalian telomeric repeats and have proven effective in the prevention and treatment of several autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. Endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU) is an established animal model of acute ocular inflammation induced by LPS administration. Augmented expression of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines such as TNFalpha, IL-6, and MCP1 and bactericidal nitric oxide production mediated by LPS contribute to the development of EIU. Suppressing these mediators using agents that are devoid of undesirable systemic side effects may help prevent the development of EIU. This study demonstrates the selective down-regulatory role of suppressive ODN after (i) local or (ii) systemic treatment in EIU-induced rabbits and mice. Our results indicate that suppressive ODN down-regulate at both the transcript and protein levels of several proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines as well as nitric oxide and co-stimulatory surface marker molecules when administrated prior to, simultaneously with, or even after LPS challenge, thereby significantly reducing ocular inflammation in both rabbit and mouse eyes. These findings strongly suggest that suppressive ODN is a potent candidate for the prevention of uveitis and could be applied as a novel DNA-based immunoregulatory agent to control other autoimmune or autoinflammatory diseases.

The ability to generate senescent progeny as a mechanism underlying breast cancer cell heterogeneity.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a remarkably heterogeneous disease. Luminal, basal-like, "normal-like", and ERBB2+ subgroups were identified and were shown to have different prognoses. The mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity are poorly understood. In our study, we explored the role of cellular differentiation and senescence as a potential cause of heterogeneity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A panel of breast cancer cell lines, isogenic clones, and breast tumors were used. Based on their ability to generate senescent progeny under low-density clonogenic conditions, we classified breast cancer cell lines as senescent cell progenitor (SCP) and immortal cell progenitor (ICP) subtypes. All SCP cell lines expressed estrogen receptor (ER). Loss of ER expression combined with the accumulation of p21(Cip1) correlated with senescence in these cell lines. p21(Cip1) knockdown, estrogen-mediated ER activation or ectopic ER overexpression protected cells against senescence. In contrast, tamoxifen triggered a robust senescence response. As ER expression has been linked to luminal differentiation, we compared the differentiation status of SCP and ICP cell lines using stem/progenitor, luminal, and myoepithelial markers. The SCP cells produced CD24+ or ER+ luminal-like and ASMA+ myoepithelial-like progeny, in addition to CD44+ stem/progenitor-like cells. In contrast, ICP cell lines acted as differentiation-defective stem/progenitor cells. Some ICP cell lines generated only CD44+/CD24-/ER-/ASMA- progenitor/stem-like cells, and others also produced CD24+/ER- luminal-like, but not ASMA+ myoepithelial-like cells. Furthermore, gene expression profiles clustered SCP cell lines with luminal A and "normal-like" tumors, and ICP cell lines with luminal B and basal-like tumors. The ICP cells displayed higher tumorigenicity in immunodeficient mice. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Luminal A and "normal-like" breast cancer cell lines were able to generate luminal-like and myoepithelial-like progeny undergoing senescence arrest. In contrast, luminal B/basal-like cell lines acted as stem/progenitor cells with defective differentiation capacities. Our findings suggest that the malignancy of breast tumors is directly correlated with stem/progenitor phenotypes and poor differentiation potential.