Curcumin Loaded Dendrimers Specifically Reduce Viability of Glioblastoma Cell Lines.

Glioblastoma (GB) is a deadly and aggressive cancer of the CNS. Even with extensive resection and chemoradiotherapy, patient survival is still only 15 months. To maintain growth and proliferation, cancer cells require a high oxidative state. Curcumin, a well-known anti-inflammatory antioxidant, is a potential candidate for treatment of GB. To facilitate efficient delivery of therapeutic doses of curcumin into cells, we encapsulated the drug in surface-modified polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers. We studied the in vitro effectiveness of a traditional PAMAM dendrimer (100% amine surface, G4 NH2), surface-modified dendrimer (10% amine and 90% hydroxyl-G4 90/10-Cys), and curcumin (Cur)-encapsulated dendrimer (G4 90/10-Cys-Cur) on three species of glioblastoma cell lines: mouse-GL261, rat-F98, and human-U87. Using an MTT assay for cell viability, we found that G4 90/10-Cys-Cur reduced viability of all three glioblastoma cell lines compared to non-cancerous control cells. Under similar conditions, unencapsulated curcumin was not effective, while the non-modified dendrimer (G4 NH2) caused significant death of both cancerous and normal cells. By harnessing and optimizing the components of PAMAM dendrimers, we are providing a promising new route for delivering cancer therapeutics. Our results with curcumin suggest that antioxidants are good candidates for treating glioblastoma.

Inducible Knockout of 14-3-3ß Attenuates Proliferation and Spheroid Formation in a Human Glioblastoma Cell Line U87MG.

Glioblastomas (GBs) are the most common and malignant brain tumors in adults. A protein encoded by the gene YWHAB, 14-3-3ß, is commonly found to be upregulated throughout the initiation and progression of GB. The 14-3-3ß has oncogenic roles in several different types of cancer cells through interactions with proteins such as Bad, FBI1, Raf-1, Cdc25b, and others. Previous RNA interference studies have shown that 14-3-3ß promotes proliferation, cell cycle progression, and migration and invasion of GB cells. However, despite the many oncogenic functions of 14-3-3ß, a CRISPR/Cas9 knockout model of 14-3-3ß has not been investigated. This study confirmed previous findings and showed that siRNA inhibition of 14-3-3ß results in reduced cellular proliferation in a human glioblastoma cell line, U87MG. We also used a YWHAB Tet-On CRISPR/Cas9 U87MG cell line that, upon doxycycline induction, leads to robust Cas9 expression and subsequent knockout of 14-3-3ß. Using this model, we show that loss of 14-3-3ß significantly reduces cellular proliferation and spheroid formation of U87MG cells.