Tumors defective in homologous recombination rely on oxidative metabolism: relevance to treatments with PARP inhibitors.

Mitochondrial metabolism and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to the acquisition of DNA mutations and genomic instability in cancer. How genomic instability influences the metabolic capacity of cancer cells is nevertheless poorly understood. Here, we show that homologous recombination-defective (HRD) cancers rely on oxidative metabolism to supply NAD+ and ATP for poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-dependent DNA repair mechanisms. Studies in breast and ovarian cancer HRD models depict a metabolic shift that includes enhanced expression of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway and its key components and a decline in the glycolytic Warburg phenotype. Hence, HRD cells are more sensitive to metformin and NAD+ concentration changes. On the other hand, shifting from an OXPHOS to a highly glycolytic metabolism interferes with the sensitivity to PARP inhibitors (PARPi) in these HRD cells. This feature is associated with a weak response to PARP inhibition in patient-derived xenografts, emerging as a new mechanism to determine PARPi sensitivity. This study shows a mechanistic link between two major cancer hallmarks, which in turn suggests novel possibilities for specifically treating HRD cancers with OXPHOS inhibitors.

Natural gum-type biopolymers as potential modified nonpolar drug release systems.

In this work, the relationship between surface properties and drug release mechanism from binary composition tablets formed by quetiapine fumarate and biopolymer materials was studied. The biopolymers correspond to xanthan and tragacanth gums, which are projected as modified drug release systems. The surface studies were carried out by the sessile drop method, while the surface free energy (SFE) was determinate through Young-Dupree and OWRK semi-empirical models. On the other hand, the drug release studies were performed by in vitro dissolution tests, where the data were analyzed through kinetic models of zero order, first order, Higuchi, and Korsmeyer-Peppas. The results showed that depending on the type and the proportion of biopolymer, surface properties, and the drug release processes are significantly affected, wherein tragacanth gum present a usual erosion mechanism, while xanthan gum describes a swelling mechanism that controls the release of the drug.