Repurposing psychiatric drugs as anti-cancer agents

Trends and Challenges in Tumor Anti-Angiogenic Therapies

Excessive abnormal angiogenesis plays a pivotal role in tumor progression and is a hallmark of solid tumors. This process is driven by an imbalance between pro- and anti-angiogenic factors dominated by the tissue hypoxia-triggered overproduction of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF-mediated signaling has quickly become one of the most promising anti-angiogenic therapeutic targets in oncology. Nevertheless, the clinical efficacy of this approach is severely limited in certain tumor types or shows only transient efficacy in patients. Acquired or intrinsic therapy resistance associated with anti-VEGF monotherapeutic approaches indicates the necessity of a paradigm change when targeting neoangiogenesis in solid tumors. In this context, the elaboration of the conceptual framework of “vessel normalization” might be a promising approach to increase the efficacy of anti-angiogenic therapies and the survival rates of patients. Indeed, the promotion of vessel maturation instead of regressing tumors by vaso-obliteration could result in reduced tumor hypoxia and improved drug delivery. The implementation of such anti-angiogenic strategies, however, faces several pitfalls due to the potential involvement of multiple pro-angiogenic factors and modulatory effects of the innate and adaptive immune system. Thus, effective treatments bypassing relapses associated with anti-VEGF monotherapies or breaking the intrinsic therapy resistance of solid tumors might use combination therapies or agents with a multimodal mode of action. This review enumerates some of the current approaches and possible future directions of treating solid tumors by targeting neovascularization.

Large-scale analysis reveals the specific clinical and immune features of CD155 in glioma

Recent studies demonstrated that CD155 plays an important role in anti-tumor immune responses. However, its role in glioma remains unclear. Here, we identify CD155 as a promising immune target in glioma. CD155 expression was significantly highly expressed in glioblastoma but not in normal brain tissue. Subsequent analysis based on genetic and clinical data from 1173 glioma patients in Rembrandt and TCGA dataset suggested that CD155 related genes of immune response were mainly positively correlated with CD155 expression. CD155 expression was positively correlated with immune-related metagenes STAT1, HCK, LCK, and MHC I but negatively associated with IgG. CD155 expression was positively correlated with biomarker gene expression of infiltrating immune cells, suggested that high CD155 expression in gliomas tend to have more infiltrating immune cells compared with gliomas with low CD155 expression. Pearson correlation analysis showed that CD155 is associated with CD96, CD226, Nectin4, PD-L1, B7-H2, NR2F6 and GITR, implying the potential synergistic effects of these checkpoint proteins. These findings implied that CD155 is a promising immunotherapy target, combined with existing immune checkpoint blockade therapies for glioma.

Lung cancer incidence in patients with schizophrenia: meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Lung cancer risk factors, like tobacco smoking, are highly prevalent in patients with schizophrenia. Whether these patients have a higher risk of lung cancer remains unknown.

AIMS

We aimed to investigate whether patients with schizophrenia have a higher incidence of lung cancer compared with general population, in a meta-analysis.

METHOD

Eligible studies were searched from PubMed and EMBASE databases to identify cases of lung cancer in patients with schizophrenia and the general population. This meta-analysis utilised the random-effects model and prediction interval was used to calculate the heterogeneity of these eligible studies. We assessed the quality of evidence with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULTS

There were 12 studies, totalling 496 265 patients, included in this meta-analysis. The data showed that the baseline schizophrenia diagnosis was not associated with any changes in lung cancer incidence in the overall population, with a standardised incidence ratio of 1.11 (95% CI 0.90-1.37; P = 0.31), although there was a significant heterogeneity among these studies (I2 = 94%). Moreover, there was also a substantial between-study variance with wide prediction interval values (0.47-2.64). The data were consistent for both males and females.

CONCLUSIONS

Up-to-date evidence from epidemiological studies indicates the lack of certainty about the association between schizophrenia diagnosis and lung cancer incidence.

Non-Curcuminoids from Turmeric and Their Potential in Cancer Therapy and Anticancer Drug Delivery Formulations

Over the past decades curcuminoids have been extensively studied for their biological activities such as antiulcer, antifibrotic, antiviral, antibacterial, antiprotozoal, antimutagenic, antifertility, antidiabetic, anticoagulant, antivenom, antioxidant, antihypotensive, antihypocholesteremic, and anticancer activities. With the perception of limited toxicity and cost, these compounds forms an integral part of cancer research and is well established as a potential anticancer agent. However, only few studies have focused on the other bioactive molecules of turmeric, known as non-curcuminoids, which are also equally potent as curcuminoids. This review aims to explore the comprehensive potency including the identification, physicochemical properties, and anticancer mechanism inclusive of molecular docking studies of non-curcuminoids such as turmerones, elemene, furanodiene (FN), bisacurone, germacrone, calebin A (CA), curdione, and cyclocurcumin. An insight into the clinical studies of these curcumin-free compounds are also discussed which provides ample evidence that favors the therapeutic potential of these compounds. Like curcuminoids, limited solubility and bioavailability are the most fragile domain, which circumscribe further applications of these compounds. Thus, this review credits the encapsulation of non-curcuminoid components in diverse drug delivery systems such as co-crystals, solid lipid nanoparticles, liposomes, microspheres, polar-non-polar sandwich (PNS) technology, which help abolish their shortcomings and flaunt their ostentatious benefits as anticancer activities.

Identification of Novel Cdc7 Kinase Inhibitors as Anti-Cancer Agents that Target the Interaction with Dbf4 by the Fragment Complementation and Drug Repositioning Approach

BACKGROUND

Cdc7-Dbf4 is a conserved serine/threonine kinase that plays an important role in initiation of DNA replication and DNA damage tolerance in eukaryotic cells. Cdc7 has been found overexpressed in human cancer cell lines and tumor tissues, and the knockdown of Cdc7 expression causes an p53-independent apoptosis, suggesting that Cdc7 is a target for cancer therapy. Only a handful Cdc7 kinase inhibitors have been reported. All Cdc7 kinase inhibitors, including PHA-767491, were identified and characterized as ATP-competitive inhibitors. Unfortunately, these ATP-competitive Cdc7 inhibitors have no good effect on clinical trial.

METHODS

Here, we have developed a novel drug-screening platform to interrupt the interaction between Cdc7 and Dbf4 based on Renilla reniformis luciferase (Rluc)-linked protein-fragment complementation assay (Rluc-PCA). Using drug repositioning approach, we found several promising Cdc7 inhibitors for cancer therapy from a FDA-approved drug library.

FINDINGS

Our data showed that dequalinium chloride and clofoctol we screened inhibit S phase progression, accumulation in G2/M phase, and Cdc7 kinase activity. In addition, in vivo mice animal study suggests that dequalinium chloride has a promising anti-tumor activity in oral cancer. Interestingly, we also found that dequalinium chloride and clofoctol sensitize the effect of platinum compounds and radiation due to synergistic effect. In conclusion, we identified non-ATP-competitive Cdc7 kinase inhibitors that not only blocks DNA synthesis at the beginning but also sensitizes cancer cells to DNA damage agents.

INTERPRETATION

The inhibitors will be a promising anti-cancer agent and enhance the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy and radiation for current cancer therapy. FUND: This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan.