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Schmidlin K, Ogbunugafor CB, Geiler-Samerotte K. Environment by environment interactions (ExE) differ across genetic backgrounds (ExExG). BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.08.593194. [PMID: 38766025 PMCID: PMC11100745 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.08.593194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
While the terms "gene-by-gene interaction" (GxG) and "gene-by-environment interaction" (GxE) are commonplace within the fields of quantitative and evolutionary genetics, "environment-by-environment interaction" (ExE) is a term used less often. In this study, we find that environment-by-environment interactions are a meaningful driver of phenotypes, and that they differ across different genotypes (suggestive of ExExG). To reach this conclusion, we analyzed a large dataset of roughly 1,000 mutant yeast strains with varying degrees of resistance to different antifungal drugs. We show that the effectiveness of a drug combination, relative to single drugs, often varies across different drug resistant mutants. Even mutants that differ by only a single nucleotide change can have dramatically different drug x drug (ExE) interactions. We also introduce a new framework that better predicts the direction and magnitude of ExE interactions for some mutants. Studying how ExE interactions change across genotypes (ExExG) is not only important when modeling the evolution of pathogenic microbes, but also for broader efforts to understand the cell biology underlying these interactions and to resolve the source of phenotypic variance across populations. The relevance of ExExG interactions have been largely omitted from canon in evolutionary and population genetics, but these fields and others stand to benefit from perspectives that highlight how interactions between external forces craft the complex behavior of living systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kara Schmidlin
- Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, 85287
| | - C. Brandon Ogbunugafor
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT,06511
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 87501
| | - Kerry Geiler-Samerotte
- Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, 85287
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2
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Kazimir A, Götze T, Murganić B, Mijatović S, Maksimović-Ivanić D, Hey-Hawkins E. Bipyraloxifene - a modified raloxifene vector against triple-negative breast cancer. RSC Med Chem 2024; 15:1921-1928. [PMID: 38911151 PMCID: PMC11187558 DOI: 10.1039/d4md00051j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 06/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Raloxifene, a selective oestrogen receptor modulator (SERM), has demonstrated efficacy in the prevention and therapy of oestrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, with some degree of effectiveness against triple-negative forms. This suggests the presence of oestrogen receptor-independent pathways in raloxifene-mediated anticancer activity. To enhance the potential of raloxifene against the most aggressive breast cancer cells, hybrid molecules combining the drug with a metal chelator moiety have been developed. In this study, we synthetically modified the structure of raloxifene by incorporating a 2,2'-bipyridine (2,2'-bipy) moiety, resulting in [6-methoxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)benzo[b]thiophen-3-yl]-[4-(2,2'-bipyridin-4'-yl-methoxy)phenyl]methanone (bipyraloxifene). We investigated the cytotoxic activity of both raloxifene and bipyraloxifene against ER+ breast adenocarcinomas, glioblastomas, and a triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line, elucidating their mode of action against TNBC. Bipyraloxifene maintained a mechanism based on caspase-mediated apoptosis but exhibited significantly higher activity and selectivity compared to the original drug, particularly evident in triple-negative stem-like MDA-MB-231 cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandr Kazimir
- Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Leipzig University Johannisallee 29 04103 Leipzig Germany
| | - Tom Götze
- Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Leipzig University Johannisallee 29 04103 Leipzig Germany
| | - Blagoje Murganić
- Institute of Nuclear Sciences "Vinča", University of Belgrade 12-14 Mike Petrovića Street Belgrade 11351 Serbia
| | - Sanja Mijatović
- Department of Immunology, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", National Institute of Republic of Serbia, Belgrade University Bul. despota Stefana 142 Belgrade 11060 Serbia
| | - Danijela Maksimović-Ivanić
- Department of Immunology, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", National Institute of Republic of Serbia, Belgrade University Bul. despota Stefana 142 Belgrade 11060 Serbia
| | - Evamarie Hey-Hawkins
- Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Leipzig University Johannisallee 29 04103 Leipzig Germany
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3
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Nunes C, Anckaert J, De Vloed F, De Wyn J, Durinck K, Vandesompele J, Speleman F, Vermeirssen V. HTSplotter: An end-to-end data processing, analysis and visualisation tool for chemical and genetic in vitro perturbation screening. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0296322. [PMID: 38181013 PMCID: PMC10769073 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024] Open
Abstract
In biomedical research, high-throughput screening is often applied as it comes with automatization, higher-efficiency, and more and faster results. High-throughput screening experiments encompass drug, drug combination, genetic perturbagen or a combination of genetic and chemical perturbagen screens. These experiments are conducted in real-time assays over time or in an endpoint assay. The data analysis consists of data cleaning and structuring, as well as further data processing and visualisation, which, due to the amount of data, can easily become laborious, time-consuming and error-prone. Therefore, several tools have been developed to aid researchers in this process, but these typically focus on specific experimental set-ups and are unable to process data of several time points and genetic-chemical perturbagen screens. To meet these needs, we developed HTSplotter, a web tool and Python module that performs automatic data analysis and visualization of visualization of eitherendpoint or real-time assays from different high-throughput screening experiments: drug, drug combination, genetic perturbagen and genetic-chemical perturbagen screens. HTSplotter implements an algorithm based on conditional statements to identify experiment types and controls. After appropriate data normalization, including growth rate normalization, HTSplotter executes downstream analyses such as dose-response relationship and drug synergism assessment by the Bliss independence (BI), Zero Interaction Potency (ZIP) and Highest Single Agent (HSA) methods. All results are exported as a text file and plots are saved in a PDF file. The main advantage of HTSplotter over other available tools is the automatic analysis of genetic-chemical perturbagen screens and real-time assays where growth rate and perturbagen effect results are plotted over time. In conclusion, HTSplotter allows for the automatic end-to-end data processing, analysis and visualisation of various high-throughput in vitro cell culture screens, offering major improvements in terms of versatility, efficiency and time over existing tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Nunes
- Lab for Computational Biology, Integromics and Gene Regulation (CBIGR), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab (PPOL), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jasper Anckaert
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- OncoRNALab, Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
| | - Fanny De Vloed
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab (PPOL), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jolien De Wyn
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab (PPOL), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kaat Durinck
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab (PPOL), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jo Vandesompele
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- OncoRNALab, Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
| | - Frank Speleman
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab (PPOL), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Vanessa Vermeirssen
- Lab for Computational Biology, Integromics and Gene Regulation (CBIGR), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab (PPOL), Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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4
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Boumendil L, Fontaine M, Lévy V, Pacchiardi K, Itzykson R, Biard L. Drug combinations screening using a Bayesian ranking approach based on dose-response models. Biom J 2024; 66:e2200332. [PMID: 37984849 DOI: 10.1002/bimj.202200332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Drug combinations have been of increasing interest in recent years for the treatment of complex diseases such as cancer, as they could reduce the risk of drug resistance. Moreover, in oncology, combining drugs may allow tackling tumor heterogeneity. Identifying potent combinations can be an arduous task since exploring the full dose-response matrix of candidate combinations over a large number of drugs is costly and sometimes unfeasible, as the quantity of available biological material is limited and may vary across patients. Our objective was to develop a rank-based screening approach for drug combinations in the setting of limited biological resources. A hierarchical Bayesian 4-parameter log-logistic (4PLL) model was used to estimate dose-response curves of dose-candidate combinations based on a parsimonious experimental design. We computed various activity ranking metrics, such as the area under the dose-response curve and Bliss synergy score, and we used the posterior distributions of ranks and the surface under the cumulative ranking curve to obtain a comprehensive final ranking of combinations. Based on simulations, our proposed method achieved good operating characteristics to identifying the most promising treatments in various scenarios with limited sample sizes and interpatient variability. We illustrate the proposed approach on real data from a combination screening experiment in acute myeloid leukemia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luana Boumendil
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1153, Team ECSTRRA, Paris, France
| | - Morgane Fontaine
- Université Paris Cité, Génomes, biologie cellulaire et thérapeutique U944, INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Vincent Lévy
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1153, Team ECSTRRA, Paris, France
- Sorbonne Paris Nord, Unité de Recherche Clinique, Hôpital Avicenne, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Bobigny, France
| | - Kim Pacchiardi
- Université Paris Cité, Génomes, biologie cellulaire et thérapeutique U944, INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
- Laboratoire d'Hématologie, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Raphaël Itzykson
- Université Paris Cité, Génomes, biologie cellulaire et thérapeutique U944, INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
- Service Hématologie Adultes, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Lucie Biard
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1153, Team ECSTRRA, Paris, France
- Service de Biostatistique et Information Médicale, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France
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5
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Allgood SC, Su CC, Crooks AL, Meyer CT, Zhou B, Betterton MD, Barbachyn MR, Yu EW, Detweiler CS. Bacterial efflux pump modulators prevent bacterial growth in macrophages and under broth conditions that mimic the host environment. mBio 2023; 14:e0249223. [PMID: 37921493 PMCID: PMC10746280 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02492-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Bacterial efflux pumps are critical for resistance to antibiotics and for virulence. We previously identified small molecules that inhibit efflux pumps (efflux pump modulators, EPMs) and prevent pathogen replication in host cells. Here, we used medicinal chemistry to increase the activity of the EPMs against pathogens in cells into the nanomolar range. We show by cryo-electron microscopy that these EPMs bind an efflux pump subunit. In broth culture, the EPMs increase the potency (activity), but not the efficacy (maximum effect), of antibiotics. We also found that bacterial exposure to the EPMs appear to enable the accumulation of a toxic metabolite that would otherwise be exported by efflux pumps. Thus, inhibitors of bacterial efflux pumps could interfere with infection not only by potentiating antibiotics, but also by allowing toxic waste products to accumulate within bacteria, providing an explanation for why efflux pumps are needed for virulence in the absence of antibiotics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samual C. Allgood
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Chih-Chia Su
- Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Amy L. Crooks
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Christian T. Meyer
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Duet Biosystems, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Antimicrobial Research Consortium (ARC) Labs, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Bojun Zhou
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Meredith D. Betterton
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Center for Computational Biology, Flatiron Institute, New York, New York, USA
| | | | - Edward W. Yu
- Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Corrella S. Detweiler
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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6
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Dakroub R, Huard S, Hajj-Younes Y, Suresh S, Badran B, Fayyad-Kazan H, Dubois T. Therapeutic Advantage of Targeting PRMT5 in Combination with Chemotherapies or EGFR/HER2 Inhibitors in Triple-Negative Breast Cancers. BREAST CANCER (DOVE MEDICAL PRESS) 2023; 15:785-799. [PMID: 37954171 PMCID: PMC10637385 DOI: 10.2147/bctt.s430513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subgroup characterized by a high risk of resistance to chemotherapies and high relapse potential. TNBC shows inter-and intra-tumoral heterogeneity; more than half expresses high EGFR levels and about 30% are classified as HER2-low breast cancers. High PRMT5 mRNA levels are associated with poor prognosis in TNBC and inhibiting PRMT5 impairs the viability of subsets of TNBC cell lines and delays tumor growth in TNBC mice models. TNBC patients may therefore benefit from a treatment targeting PRMT5. The aim of this study was to assess the therapeutic benefit of combining a PRMT5 inhibitor with different chemotherapies used in the clinics to treat TNBC patients, or with FDA-approved inhibitors targeting the HER family members. Methods The drug combinations were performed using proliferation and colony formation assays on TNBC cell lines that were sensitive or resistant to EPZ015938, a PRMT5 inhibitor that has been evaluated in clinical trials. The chemotherapies analyzed were cisplatin, doxorubicin, camptothecin, and paclitaxel. The targeted therapies tested were erlotinib (EGFR inhibitor), neratinib (EGFR/HER2/HER4 inhibitor) and tucatinib (HER2 inhibitor). Results We found that PRMT5 inhibition synergized mostly with cisplatin, and to a lesser extent with doxorubicin or camptothecin, but not with paclitaxel, to impair TNBC cell proliferation. PRMT5 inhibition also synergized with erlotinib and neratinib in TNBC cell lines, especially in those overexpressing EGFR. Additionally, a synergistic interaction was observed with neratinib and tucatinib in a HER2-low TNBC cell line as well as in a HER2-positive breast cancer cell line. We noticed that synergy can be obtained in TNBC cell lines that were resistant to PRMT5 inhibition alone. Conclusion Altogether, our data highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting PRMT5 using combinatorial strategies for the treatment of subsets of TNBC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rayan Dakroub
- Breast Cancer Biology Group, Translational Research Department, Institut Curie-PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
- Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Molecular Immunology, Faculty of Sciences-I, Lebanese University, Hadath, 1003, Lebanon
| | - Solène Huard
- Breast Cancer Biology Group, Translational Research Department, Institut Curie-PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Yara Hajj-Younes
- Breast Cancer Biology Group, Translational Research Department, Institut Curie-PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Samyuktha Suresh
- Breast Cancer Biology Group, Translational Research Department, Institut Curie-PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Bassam Badran
- Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Molecular Immunology, Faculty of Sciences-I, Lebanese University, Hadath, 1003, Lebanon
| | - Hussein Fayyad-Kazan
- Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Molecular Immunology, Faculty of Sciences-I, Lebanese University, Hadath, 1003, Lebanon
| | - Thierry Dubois
- Breast Cancer Biology Group, Translational Research Department, Institut Curie-PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
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7
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Gevertz JL, Kareva I. Guiding model-driven combination dose selection using multi-objective synergy optimization. CPT Pharmacometrics Syst Pharmacol 2023; 12:1698-1713. [PMID: 37415306 PMCID: PMC10681518 DOI: 10.1002/psp4.12997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Revised: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the growing appreciation that the future of cancer treatment lies in combination therapies, finding the right drugs to combine and the optimal way to combine them remains a nontrivial task. Herein, we introduce the Multi-Objective Optimization of Combination Synergy - Dose Selection (MOOCS-DS) method for using drug synergy as a tool for guiding dose selection for a combination of preselected compounds. This method decouples synergy of potency (SoP) and synergy of efficacy (SoE) and identifies Pareto optimal solutions in a multi-objective synergy space. Using a toy combination therapy model, we explore properties of the MOOCS-DS algorithm, including how optimal dose selection can be influenced by the metric used to define SoP and SoE. We also demonstrate the potential of our approach to guide dose and schedule selection using a model fit to preclinical data of the combination of the PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab and the anti-angiogenic drug bevacizumab on two lung cancer cell lines. The identification of optimally synergistic combination doses has the potential to inform preclinical experimental design and improve the success rates of combination therapies. Jel classificationDose Finding in Oncology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana L. Gevertz
- Department of Mathematics and StatisticsThe College of New JerseyEwingNew JerseyUSA
| | - Irina Kareva
- Quantitative Pharmacology Department, EMD SeronoMerck KGaABillericaMassachusettsUSA
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8
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Allgood SC, Su CC, Crooks AL, Meyer CT, Zhou B, Betterton MD, Barbachyn MR, Yu EW, Detweiler CS. Bacterial Efflux Pump Modulators Prevent Bacterial Growth in Macrophages and Under Broth Conditions that Mimic the Host Environment. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.20.558466. [PMID: 37786697 PMCID: PMC10541609 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.20.558466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
New approaches for combatting microbial infections are needed. One strategy for disrupting pathogenesis involves developing compounds that interfere with bacterial virulence. A critical molecular determinant of virulence for Gram-negative bacteria are efflux pumps of the resistance-nodulation-division (RND) family, which includes AcrAB-TolC. We previously identified small molecules that bind AcrB, inhibit AcrAB-TolC, and do not appear to damage membranes. These efflux pump modulators (EPMs) were discovered in an in-cell screening platform called SAFIRE (Screen for Anti-infectives using Fluorescence microscopy of IntracellulaR Enterobacteriaceae). SAFIRE identifies compounds that disrupt the growth of a Gram-negative human pathogen, Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) in macrophages. We used medicinal chemistry to iteratively design ~200 EPM35 analogs and test them for activity in SAFIRE, generating compounds with nanomolar potency. Analogs were demonstrated to bind AcrB in a substrate binding pocket by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Despite having amphipathic structures, the EPM analogs do not disrupt membrane voltage, as monitored by FtsZ localization to the cell septum. The EPM analogs had little effect on bacterial growth in standard Mueller Hinton Broth. However, under broth conditions that mimic the micro-environment of the macrophage phagosome, acrAB is required for growth, the EPM analogs are bacteriostatic, and increase the potency of antibiotics. These data suggest that under macrophage-like conditions the EPM analogs prevent the export of a toxic bacterial metabolite(s) through AcrAB-TolC. Thus, compounds that bind AcrB could disrupt infection by specifically interfering with the export of bacterial toxic metabolites, host defense factors, and/or antibiotics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samual C Allgood
- Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Chih-Chia Su
- Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
- Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Amy L Crooks
- Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Christian T Meyer
- Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
- Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
- Duet Biosystems, Nashville, TN, USA
- Antimicrobial Research Consortium (ARC) Labs, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Bojun Zhou
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Meredith D Betterton
- Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- Center for Computational Biology, Flatiron Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Edward W Yu
- Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
- Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Corrella S Detweiler
- Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
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9
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Anbari S, Wang H, Zhang Y, Wang J, Pilvankar M, Nickaeen M, Hansel S, Popel AS. Using quantitative systems pharmacology modeling to optimize combination therapy of anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor and T cell engager. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1163432. [PMID: 37408756 PMCID: PMC10318535 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1163432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Although immune checkpoint blockade therapies have shown evidence of clinical effectiveness in many types of cancer, the outcome of clinical trials shows that very few patients with colorectal cancer benefit from treatments with checkpoint inhibitors. Bispecific T cell engagers (TCEs) are gaining popularity because they can improve patients' immunological responses by promoting T cell activation. The possibility of combining TCEs with checkpoint inhibitors to increase tumor response and patient survival has been highlighted by preclinical and clinical outcomes. However, identifying predictive biomarkers and optimal dose regimens for individual patients to benefit from combination therapy remains one of the main challenges. In this article, we describe a modular quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) platform for immuno-oncology that includes specific processes of immune-cancer cell interactions and was created based on published data on colorectal cancer. We generated a virtual patient cohort with the model to conduct in silico virtual clinical trials for combination therapy of a PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor (atezolizumab) and a bispecific T cell engager (cibisatamab). Using the model calibrated against the clinical trials, we conducted several virtual clinical trials to compare various doses and schedules of administration for two drugs with the goal of therapy optimization. Moreover, we quantified the score of drug synergy for these two drugs to further study the role of the combination therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samira Anbari
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Hanwen Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Yu Zhang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Jun Wang
- Biotherapeutics Discovery Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Minu Pilvankar
- Biotherapeutics Discovery Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Masoud Nickaeen
- Biotherapeutics Discovery Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Steven Hansel
- Biotherapeutics Discovery Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Aleksander S. Popel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
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10
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Nishikubo K, Ohgaki R, Liu X, Okanishi H, Xu M, Endou H, Kanai Y. Combination effects of amino acid transporter LAT1 inhibitor nanvuranlat and cytotoxic anticancer drug gemcitabine on pancreatic and biliary tract cancer cells. Cancer Cell Int 2023; 23:116. [PMID: 37322479 DOI: 10.1186/s12935-023-02957-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cytotoxic anticancer drugs widely used in cancer chemotherapy have some limitations, such as the development of side effects and drug resistance. Furthermore, monotherapy is often less effective against heterogeneous cancer tissues. Combination therapies of cytotoxic anticancer drugs with molecularly targeted drugs have been pursued to solve such fundamental problems. Nanvuranlat (JPH203 or KYT-0353), an inhibitor for L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1; SLC7A5), has novel mechanisms of action to suppress the cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth by inhibiting the transport of large neutral amino acids into cancer cells. This study investigated the potential of the combined use of nanvuranlat and cytotoxic anticancer drugs. METHODS The combination effects of cytotoxic anticancer drugs and nanvuranlat on cell growth were examined by a water-soluble tetrazolium salt assay in two-dimensional cultures of pancreatic and biliary tract cancer cell lines. To elucidate the pharmacological mechanisms underlying the combination of gemcitabine and nanvuranlat, we investigated apoptotic cell death and cell cycle by flow cytometry. The phosphorylation levels of amino acid-related signaling pathways were analyzed by Western blot. Furthermore, growth inhibition was examined in cancer cell spheroids. RESULTS All the tested seven types of cytotoxic anticancer drugs combined with nanvuranlat significantly inhibited the cell growth of pancreatic cancer MIA PaCa-2 cells compared to their single treatment. Among them, the combined effects of gemcitabine and nanvuranlat were relatively high and confirmed in multiple pancreatic and biliary tract cell lines in two-dimensional cultures. The growth inhibitory effects were suggested to be additive but not synergistic under the tested conditions. Gemcitabine generally induced cell cycle arrest at the S phase and apoptotic cell death, while nanvuranlat induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase and affected amino acid-related mTORC1 and GAAC signaling pathways. In combination, each anticancer drug basically exerted its own pharmacological activities, although gemcitabine more strongly influenced the cell cycle than nanvuranlat. The combination effects of growth inhibition were also verified in cancer cell spheroids. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrates the potential of first-in-class LAT1 inhibitor nanvuranlat as a concomitant drug with cytotoxic anticancer drugs, especially gemcitabine, on pancreatic and biliary tract cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kou Nishikubo
- Department of Bio-system Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Ryuichi Ohgaki
- Department of Bio-system Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Integrated Frontier Research for Medical Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives (OTRI), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
| | - Xingming Liu
- Department of Bio-system Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Hiroki Okanishi
- Department of Bio-system Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Minhui Xu
- Department of Bio-system Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | | | - Yoshikatsu Kanai
- Department of Bio-system Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Integrated Frontier Research for Medical Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives (OTRI), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
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11
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Gross SM, Mohammadi F, Sanchez-Aguila C, Zhan PJ, Liby TA, Dane MA, Meyer AS, Heiser LM. Analysis and modeling of cancer drug responses using cell cycle phase-specific rate effects. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3450. [PMID: 37301933 PMCID: PMC10257663 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39122-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Identifying effective therapeutic treatment strategies is a major challenge to improving outcomes for patients with breast cancer. To gain a comprehensive understanding of how clinically relevant anti-cancer agents modulate cell cycle progression, here we use genetically engineered breast cancer cell lines to track drug-induced changes in cell number and cell cycle phase to reveal drug-specific cell cycle effects that vary across time. We use a linear chain trick (LCT) computational model, which faithfully captures drug-induced dynamic responses, correctly infers drug effects, and reproduces influences on specific cell cycle phases. We use the LCT model to predict the effects of unseen drug combinations and confirm these in independent validation experiments. Our integrated experimental and modeling approach opens avenues to assess drug responses, predict effective drug combinations, and identify optimal drug sequencing strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean M Gross
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Farnaz Mohammadi
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Crystal Sanchez-Aguila
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Paulina J Zhan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Tiera A Liby
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Mark A Dane
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Aaron S Meyer
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Laura M Heiser
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
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12
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Fuentealba-Manosalva O, Mansilla M, Buelvas N, Martin-Martin A, Torres CG, López-Muñoz RA. Mind the Curve: Dose-Response Fitting Biases the Synergy Scores across Software Used for Chemotherapy Combination Studies. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24119705. [PMID: 37298656 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24119705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Drug combinations are increasingly studied in the field of anticancer agents. Mathematical models, such as Loewe, Bliss, and HSA, are used to interpret drug combinations, while informatics tools help cancer researchers identify the most effective combinations. However, the different algorithms each software uses lead to results that do not always correlate. This study compared the performance of Combenefit (Ver. 2.021) and SynergyFinder (Ver. 3.6) in analyzing drug synergy by studying combinations involving non-steroidal analgesics (celecoxib and indomethacin) and antitumor drugs (carboplatin, gemcitabine, and vinorelbine) on two canine mammary tumor cell lines. The drugs were characterized, their optimal concentration-response ranges were determined, and nine concentrations of each drug were used to make combination matrices. Viability data were analyzed under the HSA, Loewe, and Bliss models. Celecoxib-based combinations showed the most consistent synergistic effect among software and reference models. Combination heatmaps revealed that Combenefit gave stronger synergy signals, while SynergyFinder produced better concentration-response fitting. When the average values of the combination matrices were compared, some combinations shifted from synergistic to antagonistic due to differences in the curve fitting. We also used a simulated dataset to normalize each software's synergy scores, finding that Combenefit tends to increase the distance between synergistic and antagonistic combinations. We conclude that concentration-response data fitting biases the direction of the combination (synergistic or antagonistic). In contrast, the scoring from each software increases the differences among synergistic or antagonistic combinations in Combenefit when compared to SynergyFinder. We strongly recommend using multiple reference models and reporting complete data analysis for synergy claiming in combination studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Fuentealba-Manosalva
- Instituto de Farmacología y Morfofisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5110566, Chile
| | - Matías Mansilla
- Instituto de Farmacología y Morfofisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5110566, Chile
| | - Neudo Buelvas
- Instituto de Farmacología y Morfofisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5110566, Chile
| | - Antonia Martin-Martin
- Instituto de Farmacología y Morfofisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5110566, Chile
| | - Cristian G Torres
- Departamento de Ciencias Clínicas, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8820808, Chile
- Laboratorio Centralizado de Investigación Veterinaria (LaCIV), Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8820808, Chile
| | - Rodrigo A López-Muñoz
- Instituto de Farmacología y Morfofisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5110566, Chile
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13
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Rapper SLD, Viljoen A, van Vuuren S. Optimizing the Antimicrobial Synergism of Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree) Essential Oil Combinations for Application against Respiratory Related Pathogens. PLANTA MEDICA 2023; 89:454-463. [PMID: 36626923 DOI: 10.1055/a-1947-5680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Antimicrobial research into the use of Melaleuca alternifolia essential oil has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity; however, much of the research published focuses on identifying the potential of this essential oil individually, rather than in combination for an enhanced antimicrobial effect. This study aimed to determine the antimicrobial activity of four essential oil combinations, all inclusive of M. alternifolia, against nine pathogens associated with the respiratory tract. The minimum inhibitory concentration assay was used to determine the antimicrobial activity of four essential oil combinations, M. alternifolia in combination with Cupressus sempervirens, Origanum majorana, Myrtus communis, and Origanum vulgare essential oils. The interactions between essential oil combinations were analyzed using isobolograms and SynergyFinder 2.0 software to visualize the synergistic potential at varied ratios. The antimicrobial activity of the different combinations of essential oils all demonstrated the ability to produce an enhanced antimicrobial effect compared to the essential oils when investigated independently. The findings of this study determined that isobolograms provide a more in-depth analysis of an essential oil combination interaction; however, the value of that interaction should be further quantified using computational modelling such as SynergyFinder. This study further supports the need for more studies where varied ratios of essential oils are investigated for antimicrobial potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Leigh-de Rapper
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Alvaro Viljoen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
- SAMRC Herbal Drugs Research Unit, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Sandy van Vuuren
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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14
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Baptista D, Ferreira PG, Rocha M. A systematic evaluation of deep learning methods for the prediction of drug synergy in cancer. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010200. [PMID: 36952569 PMCID: PMC10072473 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/25/2023] Open
Abstract
One of the main obstacles to the successful treatment of cancer is the phenomenon of drug resistance. A common strategy to overcome resistance is the use of combination therapies. However, the space of possibilities is huge and efficient search strategies are required. Machine Learning (ML) can be a useful tool for the discovery of novel, clinically relevant anti-cancer drug combinations. In particular, deep learning (DL) has become a popular choice for modeling drug combination effects. Here, we set out to examine the impact of different methodological choices on the performance of multimodal DL-based drug synergy prediction methods, including the use of different input data types, preprocessing steps and model architectures. Focusing on the NCI ALMANAC dataset, we found that feature selection based on prior biological knowledge has a positive impact-limiting gene expression data to cancer or drug response-specific genes improved performance. Drug features appeared to be more predictive of drug response, with a 41% increase in coefficient of determination (R2) and 26% increase in Spearman correlation relative to a baseline model that used only cell line and drug identifiers. Molecular fingerprint-based drug representations performed slightly better than learned representations-ECFP4 fingerprints increased R2 by 5.3% and Spearman correlation by 2.8% w.r.t the best learned representations. In general, fully connected feature-encoding subnetworks outperformed other architectures. DL outperformed other ML methods by more than 35% (R2) and 14% (Spearman). Additionally, an ensemble combining the top DL and ML models improved performance by about 6.5% (R2) and 4% (Spearman). Using a state-of-the-art interpretability method, we showed that DL models can learn to associate drug and cell line features with drug response in a biologically meaningful way. The strategies explored in this study will help to improve the development of computational methods for the rational design of effective drug combinations for cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Delora Baptista
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- LABBELS - Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Pedro G Ferreira
- Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal
- Ipatimup - Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- i3s - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Miguel Rocha
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- LABBELS - Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães, Portugal
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15
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Pearson RA, Wicha SG, Okour M. Drug Combination Modeling: Methods and Applications in Drug Development. J Clin Pharmacol 2023; 63:151-165. [PMID: 36088583 DOI: 10.1002/jcph.2128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Combination therapies have become increasingly researched and used in the treatment and management of complex diseases due to their ability to increase the chances for better efficacy and decreased toxicity. To evaluate drug combinations in drug development, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions between drugs in combination can be quantified using mathematical models; however, it can be difficult to deduce which models to use and how to use them to aid in clinical trial simulations to simulate the effect of a drug combination. This review paper aims to provide an overview of the various methods used to evaluate combination drug interaction for use in clinical trial development and a practical guideline on how combination modeling can be used in the settings of clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael A Pearson
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Sebastian G Wicha
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Malek Okour
- Clinical Pharmacology Modeling and Simulation (CPMS), GlaxoSmithKline, Upper Providence, Pennsylvania, USA
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16
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Cell-of-Origin Targeted Drug Repurposing for Triple-Negative and Inflammatory Breast Carcinoma with HDAC and HSP90 Inhibitors Combined with Niclosamide. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15020332. [PMID: 36672285 PMCID: PMC9856736 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15020332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
We recently identified a cell-of-origin-specific mRNA signature associated with metastasis and poor outcome in triple-negative carcinoma (TNBC). This TNBC cell-of-origin signature is associated with the over-expression of histone deacetylases and zinc finger protein HDAC1, HDAC7, and ZNF92, respectively. Based on this signature, we discovered that the combination of three drugs (an HDAC inhibitor, an anti-helminthic Niclosamide, and an antibiotic Tanespimycin that inhibits HSP90) synergistically reduces the proliferation of the twelve tested TNBC cell lines. Additionally, we discovered that four out of five inflammatory breast carcinoma cell lines are sensitive to this combination. Significantly, the concentration of the drugs that are used in these experiments are within or below clinically achievable dose, and the synergistic activity only emerged when all three drugs were combined. Our results suggest that HDAC and HSP90 inhibitors combined with the tapeworm drug Niclosamide can achieve remarkably synergistic inhibition of TNBC and IBC. Since Niclosamide, HDAC, and HSP90 inhibitors were approved for clinical use for other cancer types, it may be possible to repurpose their combination for TNBC and IBC.
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17
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Jang D, Lee MJ, Kim KS, Kim CE, Jung JH, Cho M, Hong BH, Park SJ, Kang KS. Network Pharmacological Analysis on the Herbal Combinations for Mitigating Inflammation in Respiratory Tracts and Experimental Evaluation. Healthcare (Basel) 2023; 11:healthcare11010143. [PMID: 36611603 PMCID: PMC9819683 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11010143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The regulation of inflammatory mediators, such as TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, and leukotriene B4, could play a crucial role in suppressing inflammatory diseases such as COVID-19. In this study, we investigated the potential mechanisms of drug combinations comprising Ephedrae Herba, Schisandra Fructus, Platycodonis Radix, and Ginseng Radix; validated the anti-inflammatory effects of these drugs; and determined the optimal dose of the drug combinations. By constructing a herb-compound-target network, associations were identified between the herbs and tissues (such as bronchial epithelial cells and lung) and pathways (such as the TNF, NF-κB, and calcium signaling pathways). The drug combinations exerted anti-inflammatory effects in the RAW264.7 cell line treated with lipopolysaccharide by inhibiting the production of nitric oxide and inflammatory mediators, including TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, and leukotriene B4. Notably, the drug combinations inhibited PMA-induced MUC5AC mRNA expression in NCI-H292 cells. A design space analysis was carried out to determine the optimal herbal medicine combinations using the design of experiments and synergy score calculation. Consequently, a combination study of the herbal preparations confirmed their mitigating effect on inflammation in COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongyeop Jang
- College of Korean Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
| | - Myong Jin Lee
- College of Korean Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
| | - Kang Sub Kim
- College of Korean Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
| | - Chang-Eop Kim
- College of Korean Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
| | - Jong Ho Jung
- Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharm Research Institute, Yongin 16995, Republic of Korea
| | - Minkwan Cho
- Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharm Research Institute, Yongin 16995, Republic of Korea
| | - Bo-Hee Hong
- Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharm Research Institute, Yongin 16995, Republic of Korea
| | - Shin Jung Park
- Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharm Research Institute, Yongin 16995, Republic of Korea
- Correspondence: (S.J.P.); (K.S.K.); Tel.: +82-32-749-4514 (S.J.P.); +82-31-750-5402 (K.S.K.)
| | - Ki Sung Kang
- College of Korean Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
- Correspondence: (S.J.P.); (K.S.K.); Tel.: +82-32-749-4514 (S.J.P.); +82-31-750-5402 (K.S.K.)
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18
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Witkowski J, Polak S, Rogulski Z, Pawelec D. In Vitro/In Vivo Translation of Synergistic Combination of MDM2 and MEK Inhibitors in Melanoma Using PBPK/PD Modelling: Part I. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:12984. [PMID: 36361773 PMCID: PMC9656205 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232112984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Translation of the synergy between the Siremadlin (MDM2 inhibitor) and Trametinib (MEK inhibitor) combination observed in vitro into in vivo synergistic efficacy in melanoma requires estimation of the interaction between these molecules at the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) levels. The cytotoxicity of the Siremadlin and Trametinib combination was evaluated in vitro in melanoma A375 cells with MTS and RealTime-Glo assays. Analysis of the drug combination matrix was performed using Synergy and Synergyfinder packages. Calculated drug interaction metrics showed high synergy between Siremadlin and Trametinib: 23.12%, or a 7.48% increase of combined drug efficacy (concentration-independent parameter β from Synergy package analysis and concentration-dependent δ parameter from Synergyfinder analysis, respectively). In order to select the optimal PD interaction parameter which may translate observed in vitro synergy metrics into the in vivo setting, further PK/PD studies on cancer xenograft animal models coupled with PBPK/PD modelling are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakub Witkowski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
- Adamed Pharma S.A., Adamkiewicza 6a, 05-152 Czosnów, Poland
| | - Sebastian Polak
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Jagiellonian University, Medyczna 9, 30-688 Kraków, Poland
- Simcyp Division, Certara UK Limited, Level 2-Acero, 1 Concourse Way, Sheffield S1 2BJ, UK
| | - Zbigniew Rogulski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
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Ren S, Yu L, Gao L. Multidrug representation learning based on pretraining model and molecular graph for drug interaction and combination prediction. Bioinformatics 2022; 38:4387-4394. [PMID: 35904544 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btac538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases often adopt the multidrug therapy method because it can increase the efficacy or reduce the toxic side effects of drugs. Using different drugs simultaneously may trigger unexpected pharmacological effects. Therefore, efficient identification of drug interactions is essential for the treatment of complex diseases. Currently proposed calculation methods are often limited by the collection of redundant drug features, a small amount of labeled data and low model generalization capabilities. Meanwhile, there is also a lack of unique methods for multidrug representation learning, which makes it more difficult to take full advantage of the originally scarce data. RESULTS Inspired by graph models and pretraining models, we integrated a large amount of unlabeled drug molecular graph information and target information, then designed a pretraining framework, MGP-DR (Molecular Graph Pretraining for Drug Representation), specifically for drug pair representation learning. The model uses self-supervised learning strategies to mine the contextual information within and between drug molecules to predict drug-drug interactions and drug combinations. The results achieved promising performance across multiple metrics compared with other state-of-the-art methods. Our MGP-DR model can be used to provide a reliable candidate set for the combined use of multiple drugs. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION Code of the model, datasets and results can be downloaded from GitHub (https://github.com/LiangYu-Xidian/MGP-DR). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shujie Ren
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China
| | - Liang Yu
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China
| | - Lin Gao
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China
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Taylor D, Meyer CT, Graves D, Sen R, Fu J, Tran E, Mirza B, Rodriguez G, Lang C, Feng H, Quaranta V, Wilson JT, Kim YJ, Korrer MJ. MuSyC dosing of adjuvanted cancer vaccines optimizes antitumor responses. Front Immunol 2022; 13:936129. [PMID: 36059502 PMCID: PMC9437625 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.936129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
With the clinical approval of T-cell-dependent immune checkpoint inhibitors for many cancers, therapeutic cancer vaccines have re-emerged as a promising immunotherapy. Cancer vaccines require the addition of immunostimulatory adjuvants to increase vaccine immunogenicity, and increasingly multiple adjuvants are used in combination to bolster further and shape cellular immunity to tumor antigens. However, rigorous quantification of adjuvants' synergistic interactions is challenging due to partial redundancy in costimulatory molecules and cytokine production, leading to the common assumption that combining both adjuvants at the maximum tolerated dose results in optimal efficacy. Herein, we examine this maximum dose assumption and find combinations of these doses are suboptimal. Instead, we optimized dendritic cell activation by extending the Multidimensional Synergy of Combinations (MuSyC) framework that measures the synergy of efficacy and potency between two vaccine adjuvants. Initially, we performed a preliminary in vitro screening of clinically translatable adjuvant receptor targets (TLR, STING, NLL, and RIG-I). We determined that STING agonist (CDN) plus TLR4 agonist (MPL-A) or TLR7/8 agonist (R848) as the best pairwise combinations for dendritic cell activation. In addition, we found that the combination of R848 and CDN is synergistically efficacious and potent in activating both murine and human antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in vitro. These two selected adjuvants were then used to estimate a MuSyC-dose optimized for in vivo T-cell priming using ovalbumin-based peptide vaccines. Finally, using B16 melanoma and MOC1 head and neck cancer models, MuSyC-dose-based adjuvating of cancer vaccines improved the antitumor response, increased tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and induced novel myeloid tumor infiltration changes. Further, the MuSyC-dose-based adjuvants approach did not cause additional weight changes or increased plasma cytokine levels compared to CDN alone. Collectively, our findings offer a proof of principle that our MuSyC-extended approach can be used to optimize cancer vaccine formulations for immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Taylor
- Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Christian T. Meyer
- Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
| | - Diana Graves
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Rupashree Sen
- Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Juan Fu
- Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Emily Tran
- College Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Bilal Mirza
- Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Gabriel Rodriguez
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Cara Lang
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Hanwen Feng
- Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Vito Quaranta
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - John T. Wilson
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Young J. Kim
- Oncology Chair, Global Development, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, United States
| | - Michael J. Korrer
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
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21
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Zheng S, Wang W, Aldahdooh J, Malyutina A, Shadbahr T, Tanoli Z, Pessia A, Tang J. SynergyFinder Plus: Toward Better Interpretation and Annotation of Drug Combination Screening Datasets. GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2022; 20:587-596. [PMID: 35085776 PMCID: PMC9801064 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2022.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 159] [Impact Index Per Article: 79.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 12/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Combinatorial therapies have been recently proposed to improve the efficacy of anticancer treatment. The SynergyFinder R package is a software used to analyze pre-clinical drug combination datasets. Here, we report the major updates to the SynergyFinder R package for improved interpretation and annotation of drug combination screening results. Unlike the existing implementations, the updated SynergyFinder R package includes five main innovations. 1) We extend the mathematical models to higher-order drug combination data analysis and implement dimension reduction techniques for visualizing the synergy landscape. 2) We provide a statistical analysis of drug combination synergy and sensitivity with confidence intervals and P values. 3) We incorporate a synergy barometer to harmonize multiple synergy scoring methods to provide a consensus metric for synergy. 4) We evaluate drug combination synergy and sensitivity to provide an unbiased interpretation of the clinical potential. 5) We enable fast annotation of drugs and cell lines, including their chemical and target information. These annotations will improve the interpretation of the mechanisms of action of drug combinations. To facilitate the use of the R package within the drug discovery community, we also provide a web server at www.synergyfinderplus.org as a user-friendly interface to enable a more flexible and versatile analysis of drug combination data.
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22
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Quaranta V, Linkous A. Organoids as a Systems Platform for SCLC Brain Metastasis. Front Oncol 2022; 12:881989. [PMID: 35574308 PMCID: PMC9096159 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2022.881989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive, neuroendocrine tumor. Traditional reductionist approaches have proven ineffective to ameliorate the uniformly dismal outcomes for SCLC - survival at 5 years remains less than 5%. A major obstacle to improving treatment is that SCLC tumor cells disseminate early, with a strong propensity for metastasizing to the brain. Accumulating evidence indicates that, contrary to previous textbook knowledge, virtually every SCLC tumor is comprised of multiple subtypes. Important questions persist regarding the role that this intra-tumor subtype heterogeneity may play in supporting the invasive properties of SCLC. A recurrent hypothesis in the field is that subtype interactions and/or transition dynamics are major determinants of SCLC metastatic seeding and progression. Here, we review the advantages of cerebral organoids as an experimentally accessible platform for SCLC brain metastasis, amenable to genetic manipulations, drug perturbations, and assessment of subtype interactions when coupled, e.g., to temporal longitudinal monitoring by high-content imaging or high-throughput omics data generation. We then consider systems approaches that can produce mathematical and computational models useful to generalize lessons learned from ex vivo organoid cultures, and integrate them with in vivo observations. In summary, systems approaches combined with ex vivo SCLC cultures in brain organoids may effectively capture both tumor-tumor and host-tumor interactions that underlie general principles of brain metastasis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amanda Linkous
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
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23
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Lu X, Hackman GL, Saha A, Rathore AS, Collins M, Friedman C, Yi SS, Matsuda F, DiGiovanni J, Lodi A, Tiziani S. Metabolomics-based phenotypic screens for evaluation of drug synergy via direct-infusion mass spectrometry. iScience 2022; 25:104221. [PMID: 35494234 PMCID: PMC9046262 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Drugs used in combination can synergize to increase efficacy, decrease toxicity, and prevent drug resistance. While conventional high-throughput screens that rely on univariate data are incredibly valuable to identify promising drug candidates, phenotypic screening methodologies could be beneficial to provide deep insight into the molecular response of drug combination with a likelihood of improved clinical outcomes. We developed a high-content metabolomics drug screening platform using stable isotope-tracer direct-infusion mass spectrometry that informs an algorithm to determine synergy from multivariate phenomics data. Using a cancer drug library, we validated the drug screening, integrating isotope-enriched metabolomics data and computational data mining, on a panel of prostate cell lines and verified the synergy between CB-839 and docetaxel both in vitro (three-dimensional model) and in vivo. The proposed unbiased metabolomics screening platform can be used to rapidly generate phenotype-informed datasets and quantify synergy for combinatorial drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiyuan Lu
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
| | - G. Lavender Hackman
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
| | - Achinto Saha
- Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin,TX 78712, USA
| | - Atul Singh Rathore
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
| | - Meghan Collins
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
| | - Chelsea Friedman
- Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin,TX 78712, USA
| | - S. Stephen Yi
- Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, Livestrong Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA,Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology (ICMB), College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Fumio Matsuda
- Department of Bioinformatic Engineering, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, 1-5 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - John DiGiovanni
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA,Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin,TX 78712, USA,Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, Livestrong Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
| | - Alessia Lodi
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA,Corresponding author
| | - Stefano Tiziani
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA,Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, Livestrong Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA,Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology (ICMB), College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA,Corresponding author
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24
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A graph model of combination therapies. Drug Discov Today 2022; 27:1210-1217. [PMID: 35143962 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2022.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The simultaneous use of multiple medications causes drug-drug interactions (DDI) that impact therapeutic efficacy. Here, we argue that graph theory, in conjunction with game theory and ecosystem theory, can address this issue. We treat the coexistence of multiple drugs as a system in which DDI is modeled by game theory. We develop an ordinary differential equation model to characterize how the concentration of a drug changes as a result of its independent capacity and the dependent influence of other drugs through the metabolic response of the host. We coalesce all drugs into personalized and context-specific networks, which can reveal key DDI determinants of therapeutical efficacy. Our model can quantify drug synergy and antagonism and test the translational success of combination therapies to the clinic.
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25
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Shcheglova E, Blaszczyk K, Borowiak M. Mitogen Synergy: An Emerging Route to Boosting Human Beta Cell Proliferation. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 9:734597. [PMID: 35155441 PMCID: PMC8829426 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.734597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Decreased number and function of beta cells are a key aspect of diabetes mellitus (diabetes), a disease that remains an onerous global health problem. Means of restoring beta cell mass are urgently being sought as a potential cure for diabetes. Several strategies, such as de novo beta cell derivation via pluripotent stem cell differentiation or mature somatic cell transdifferentiation, have yielded promising results. Beta cell expansion is another promising strategy, rendered challenging by the very low proliferative capacity of beta cells. Many effective mitogens have been identified in rodents, but the vast majority do not have similar mitogenic effects in human beta cells. Extensive research has led to the identification of several human beta cell mitogens, but their efficacy and specificity remain insufficient. An approach based on the simultaneous application of several mitogens has recently emerged and can yield human beta cell proliferation rates of up to 8%. Here, we discuss recent advances in restoration of the beta cell population, focusing on mitogen synergy, and the contribution of RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to accelerating the elucidation of signaling pathways in proliferating beta cells and the discovery of novel mitogens. Together, these approaches have taken beta cell research up a level, bringing us closer to a cure for diabetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ekaterina Shcheglova
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Blaszczyk
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
| | - Malgorzata Borowiak
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
- *Correspondence: Malgorzata Borowiak, ;
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26
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Wooten DJ, Sinha I, Sinha R. Selenium Induces Pancreatic Cancer Cell Death Alone and in Combination with Gemcitabine. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10010149. [PMID: 35052828 PMCID: PMC8773897 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10010149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 01/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Survival rate for pancreatic cancer remains poor and newer treatments are urgently required. Selenium, an essential trace element, offers protection against several cancer types and has not been explored much against pancreatic cancer specifically in combination with known chemotherapeutic agents. The present study was designed to investigate selenium and Gemcitabine at varying doses alone and in combination in established pancreatic cancer cell lines growing in 2D as well as 3D platforms. Comparison of multi-dimensional synergy of combinations’ (MuSyc) model and highest single agent (HSA) model provided quantitative insights into how much better the combination performed than either compound tested alone in a 2D versus 3D growth of pancreatic cancer cell lines. The outcomes of the study further showed promise in combining selenium and Gemcitabine when evaluated for apoptosis, proliferation, and ENT1 protein expression, specifically in BxPC-3 pancreatic cancer cells in vitro.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J. Wooten
- Department of Physics, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA;
| | - Indu Sinha
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA;
| | - Raghu Sinha
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA;
- Correspondence:
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27
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Zagidullin B, Wang Z, Guan Y, Pitkänen E, Tang J. Comparative analysis of molecular fingerprints in prediction of drug combination effects. Brief Bioinform 2021; 22:bbab291. [PMID: 34401895 PMCID: PMC8574997 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbab291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2021] [Revised: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Application of machine and deep learning methods in drug discovery and cancer research has gained a considerable amount of attention in the past years. As the field grows, it becomes crucial to systematically evaluate the performance of novel computational solutions in relation to established techniques. To this end, we compare rule-based and data-driven molecular representations in prediction of drug combination sensitivity and drug synergy scores using standardized results of 14 high-throughput screening studies, comprising 64 200 unique combinations of 4153 molecules tested in 112 cancer cell lines. We evaluate the clustering performance of molecular representations and quantify their similarity by adapting the Centered Kernel Alignment metric. Our work demonstrates that to identify an optimal molecular representation type, it is necessary to supplement quantitative benchmark results with qualitative considerations, such as model interpretability and robustness, which may vary between and throughout preclinical drug development projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Zagidullin
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Z Wang
- Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Y Guan
- Department of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - E Pitkänen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) & Applied Tumor Genomics Research Program, Research Programs Unit, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - J Tang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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28
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Shkedi A, Adkisson M, Schroeder A, Eckalbar WL, Kuo SY, Neckers L, Gestwicki JE. Inhibitor Combinations Reveal Wiring of the Proteostasis Network in Prostate Cancer Cells. J Med Chem 2021; 64:14809-14821. [PMID: 34606726 PMCID: PMC8806517 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The protein homeostasis (proteostasis) network is composed of multiple pathways that work together to balance protein folding, stability, and turnover. Cancer cells are particularly reliant on this network; however, it is hypothesized that inhibition of one node might lead to compensation. To better understand these connections, we dosed 22Rv1 prostate cancer cells with inhibitors of four proteostasis targets (Hsp70, Hsp90, proteasome, and p97), either alone or in binary combinations, and measured the effects on cell growth. The results reveal a series of additive, synergistic, and antagonistic relationships, including strong synergy between inhibitors of p97 and the proteasome and striking antagonism between inhibitors of Hsp90 and the proteasome. Based on RNA-seq, these relationships are associated, in part, with activation of stress pathways. Together, these results suggest that cocktails of proteostasis inhibitors might be a powerful way of treating some cancers, although antagonism that blunts the efficacy of both molecules is also possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arielle Shkedi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco CA 94158
| | - Michael Adkisson
- Functional Genomics Core, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158
| | - Andrew Schroeder
- Functional Genomics Core, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158
| | - Walter L Eckalbar
- Functional Genomics Core, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158
| | - Szu-Yu Kuo
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco CA 94158
| | - Leonard Neckers
- Urologic Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892
| | - Jason E. Gestwicki
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco CA 94158
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29
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KalantarMotamedi Y, Choi RJ, Koh SB, Bramhall JL, Fan TP, Bender A. Prediction and identification of synergistic compound combinations against pancreatic cancer cells. iScience 2021; 24:103080. [PMID: 34585118 PMCID: PMC8456050 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Resistance to current therapies is common for pancreatic cancer and hence novel treatment options are urgently needed. In this work, we developed and validated a computational method to select synergistic compound combinations based on transcriptomic profiles from both the disease and compound side, combined with a pathway scoring system, which was then validated prospectively by testing 30 compounds (and their combinations) on PANC-1 cells. Some compounds selected as single agents showed lower GI50 values than the standard of care, gemcitabine. Compounds suggested as combination agents with standard therapy gemcitabine based on the best performing scoring system showed on average 2.82-5.18 times higher synergies compared to compounds that were predicted to be active as single agents. Examples of highly synergistic in vitro validated compound pairs include gemcitabine combined with Entinostat, thioridazine, loperamide, scriptaid and Saracatinib. Hence, the computational approach presented here was able to identify synergistic compound combinations against pancreatic cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasaman KalantarMotamedi
- Centre for Molecular Informatics, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK
| | - Ran Joo Choi
- Centre for Molecular Informatics, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK
| | - Siang-Boon Koh
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK
| | - Jo L. Bramhall
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK
| | - Tai-Ping Fan
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1PD, UK
| | - Andreas Bender
- Centre for Molecular Informatics, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK
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30
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Alsherbiny MA, Bhuyan DJ, Low MN, Chang D, Li CG. Synergistic Interactions of Cannabidiol with Chemotherapeutic Drugs in MCF7 Cells: Mode of Interaction and Proteomics Analysis of Mechanisms. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms221810103. [PMID: 34576262 PMCID: PMC8469885 DOI: 10.3390/ijms221810103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Revised: 09/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive phytocannabinoid, has recently emerged as a potential cytotoxic agent in addition to its ameliorative activity in chemotherapy-associated side effects. In this work, the potential interactions of CBD with docetaxel (DOC), doxorubicin (DOX), paclitaxel (PTX), vinorelbine (VIN), and 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38) were explored in MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma cells using different synergy quantification models. The apoptotic profiles of MCF7 cells after the treatments were assessed via flow cytometry. The molecular mechanisms of CBD and the most promising combinations were investigated via label-free quantification proteomics. A strong synergy was observed across all synergy models at different molar ratios of CBD in combination with SN-38 and VIN. Intriguingly, synergy was observed for CBD with all chemotherapeutic drugs at a molar ratio of 636:1 in almost all synergy models. However, discording synergy trends warranted the validation of the selected combinations against different models. Enhanced apoptosis was observed for all synergistic CBD combinations compared to monotherapies or negative controls. A shotgun proteomics study highlighted 121 dysregulated proteins in CBD-treated MCF7 cells compared to the negative controls. We reported the inhibition of topoisomerase II β and α, cullin 1, V-type proton ATPase, and CDK-6 in CBD-treated MCF7 cells for the first time as additional cytotoxic mechanisms of CBD, alongside sabotaged energy production and reduced mitochondrial translation. We observed 91 significantly dysregulated proteins in MCF7 cells treated with the synergistic combination of CBD with SN-38 (CSN-38), compared to the monotherapies. Regulation of telomerase, cell cycle, topoisomerase I, EGFR1, protein metabolism, TP53 regulation of DNA repair, death receptor signalling, and RHO GTPase signalling pathways contributed to the proteome-wide synergistic molecular mechanisms of CSN-38. In conclusion, we identified significant synergistic interactions between CBD and the five important chemotherapeutic drugs and the key molecular pathways of CBD and its synergistic combination with SN-38 in MCF7 cells. Further in vivo and clinical studies are warranted to evaluate the implementation of CBD-based synergistic adjuvant therapies for breast cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad A. Alsherbiny
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia; (D.J.B.); (M.N.L.); (D.C.)
- Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
- Correspondence: (M.A.A.); (C.G.L.)
| | - Deep J. Bhuyan
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia; (D.J.B.); (M.N.L.); (D.C.)
| | - Mitchell N. Low
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia; (D.J.B.); (M.N.L.); (D.C.)
| | - Dennis Chang
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia; (D.J.B.); (M.N.L.); (D.C.)
| | - Chun Guang Li
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia; (D.J.B.); (M.N.L.); (D.C.)
- Correspondence: (M.A.A.); (C.G.L.)
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31
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Lu X, Han L, Busquets J, Collins M, Lodi A, Marszalek JR, Konopleva M, Tiziani S. The Combined Treatment With the FLT3-Inhibitor AC220 and the Complex I Inhibitor IACS-010759 Synergistically Depletes Wt- and FLT3-Mutated Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells. Front Oncol 2021; 11:686765. [PMID: 34490088 PMCID: PMC8417744 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.686765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive hematologic malignancy with a high mortality rate and relapse risk. Although progress on the genetic and molecular understanding of this disease has been made, the standard of care has changed minimally for the past 40 years and the five-year survival rate remains poor, warranting new treatment strategies. Here, we applied a two-step screening platform consisting of a primary cell viability screening and a secondary metabolomics-based phenotypic screening to find synergistic drug combinations to treat AML. A novel synergy between the oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor IACS-010759 and the FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor AC220 (quizartinib) was discovered in AML and then validated by ATP bioluminescence and apoptosis assays. In-depth stable isotope tracer metabolic flux analysis revealed that IACS-010759 and AC220 synergistically reduced glucose and glutamine enrichment in glycolysis and the TCA cycle, leading to impaired energy production and de novo nucleotide biosynthesis. In summary, we identified a novel drug combination, AC220 and IACS-010759, which synergistically inhibits cell growth in AML cells due to a major disruption of cell metabolism, regardless of FLT3 mutation status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiyuan Lu
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Lina Han
- Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Jonathan Busquets
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Meghan Collins
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Alessia Lodi
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Joseph R. Marszalek
- TRACTION - Translational Research to AdvanCe Therapeutics and Innovation in ONcology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Marina Konopleva
- Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Stefano Tiziani
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, LiveSTRONG Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
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32
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Wooten DJ, Meyer CT, Lubbock ALR, Quaranta V, Lopez CF. MuSyC is a consensus framework that unifies multi-drug synergy metrics for combinatorial drug discovery. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4607. [PMID: 34326325 PMCID: PMC8322415 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24789-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Drug combination discovery depends on reliable synergy metrics but no consensus exists on the correct synergy criterion to characterize combined interactions. The fragmented state of the field confounds analysis, impedes reproducibility, and delays clinical translation of potential combination treatments. Here we present a mass-action based formalism to quantify synergy. With this formalism, we clarify the relationship between the dominant drug synergy principles, and present a mapping of commonly used frameworks onto a unified synergy landscape. From this, we show how biases emerge due to intrinsic assumptions which hinder their broad applicability and impact the interpretation of synergy in discovery efforts. Specifically, we describe how traditional metrics mask consequential synergistic interactions, and contain biases dependent on the Hill-slope and maximal effect of single-drugs. We show how these biases systematically impact synergy classification in large combination screens, potentially misleading discovery efforts. Thus the proposed formalism can provide a consistent, unbiased interpretation of drug synergy, and accelerate the translatability of synergy studies. The lack of a unifying metric characterizing combinatorial drug interactions has impeded the development of combinatorial therapies. Here, the authors present MuSyC, a consensus synergy metric that overcomes several caveats associated with other, popular metrics.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Wooten
- Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Christian T Meyer
- Program in Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
| | | | - Vito Quaranta
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University Nashville, Nashville, TN, USA. .,Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - Carlos F Lopez
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University Nashville, Nashville, TN, USA. .,Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA. .,Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
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Alsherbiny MA, Bhuyan DJ, Radwan I, Chang D, Li CG. Metabolomic Identification of Anticancer Metabolites of Australian Propolis and Proteomic Elucidation of Its Synergistic Mechanisms with Doxorubicin in the MCF7 Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22157840. [PMID: 34360606 PMCID: PMC8346082 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22157840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Revised: 07/18/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The combination of natural products with standard chemotherapeutic agents offers a promising strategy to enhance the efficacy or reduce the side effects of standard chemotherapy. Doxorubicin (DOX), a standard drug for breast cancer, has several disadvantages, including severe side effects and the development of drug resistance. Recently, we reported the potential bioactive markers of Australian propolis extract (AP-1) and their broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. In the present study, we explored the synergistic interactions between AP-1 and DOX in the MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma cells using different synergy quantitation models. Biochemometric and metabolomics-driven analysis was performed to identify the potential anticancer metabolites in AP-1. The molecular mechanisms of synergy were studied by analysing the apoptotic profile via flow cytometry, apoptotic proteome array and measuring the oxidative status of the MCF7 cells treated with the most synergistic combination. Furthermore, label-free quantification proteomics analysis was performed to decipher the underlying synergistic mechanisms. Five prenylated stilbenes were identified as the key metabolites in the most active AP-1 fraction. Strong synergy was observed when AP-1 was combined with DOX in the ratio of 100:0.29 (w/w) as validated by different synergy quantitation models implemented. AP-1 significantly enhanced the inhibitory effect of DOX against MCF7 cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner with significant inhibition of the reactive oxygen species (p < 0.0001) compared to DOX alone. AP-1 enabled the reversal of DOX-mediated necrosis to programmed cell death, which may be advantageous to decline DOX-related side effects. AP-1 also significantly enhanced the apoptotic effect of DOX after 24 h of treatment with significant upregulation of catalase, HTRA2/Omi, FADD together with DR5 and DR4 TRAIL-mediated apoptosis (p < 0.05), contributing to the antiproliferative activity of AP-1. Significant upregulation of pro-apoptotic p27, PON2 and catalase with downregulated anti-apoptotic XIAP, HSP60 and HIF-1α, and increased antioxidant proteins (catalase and PON2) may be associated with the improved apoptosis and oxidative status of the synergistic combination-treated MCF7 cells compared to the mono treatments. Shotgun proteomics identified 21 significantly dysregulated proteins in the synergistic combination-treated cells versus the mono treatments. These proteins were involved in the TP53/ATM-regulated non-homologous end-joining pathway and double-strand breaks repairs, recruiting the overexpressed BRCA1 and suppressed RIF1 encoded proteins. The overexpression of UPF2 was noticed in the synergistic combination treatment, which could assist in overcoming doxorubicin resistance-associated long non-coding RNA and metastasis of the MCF7 cells. In conclusion, we identified the significant synergy and highlighted the key molecular pathways in the interaction between AP-1 and DOX in the MCF7 cells together with the AP-1 anticancer metabolites. Further in vivo and clinical studies are warranted on this synergistic combination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad A. Alsherbiny
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia;
- Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
- Correspondence: (M.A.A.); (D.J.B.); (C.-G.L.)
| | - Deep J. Bhuyan
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia;
- Correspondence: (M.A.A.); (D.J.B.); (C.-G.L.)
| | - Ibrahim Radwan
- Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia;
| | - Dennis Chang
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia;
| | - Chun-Guang Li
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia;
- Correspondence: (M.A.A.); (D.J.B.); (C.-G.L.)
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Zheng S, Aldahdooh J, Shadbahr T, Wang Y, Aldahdooh D, Bao J, Wang W, Tang J. DrugComb update: a more comprehensive drug sensitivity data repository and analysis portal. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:W174-W184. [PMID: 34060634 PMCID: PMC8218202 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 04/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Combinatorial therapies that target multiple pathways have shown great promises for treating complex diseases. DrugComb (https://drugcomb.org/) is a web-based portal for the deposition and analysis of drug combination screening datasets. Since its first release, DrugComb has received continuous updates on the coverage of data resources, as well as on the functionality of the web server to improve the analysis, visualization and interpretation of drug combination screens. Here, we report significant updates of DrugComb, including: (i) manual curation and harmonization of more comprehensive drug combination and monotherapy screening data, not only for cancers but also for other diseases such as malaria and COVID-19; (ii) enhanced algorithms for assessing the sensitivity and synergy of drug combinations; (iii) network modelling tools to visualize the mechanisms of action of drugs or drug combinations for a given cancer sample and (iv) state-of-the-art machine learning models to predict drug combination sensitivity and synergy. These improvements have been provided with more user-friendly graphical interface and faster database infrastructure, which make DrugComb the most comprehensive web-based resources for the study of drug sensitivities for multiple diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuyu Zheng
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Jehad Aldahdooh
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Tolou Shadbahr
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Yinyin Wang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Dalal Aldahdooh
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Jie Bao
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Wenyu Wang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
| | - Jing Tang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00290, Finland
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Wooten DJ, Albert R. synergy: a Python library for calculating, analyzing and visualizing drug combination synergy. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:1473-1474. [PMID: 32960970 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY Combinations of multiple pharmacological agents can achieve a substantial benefit over treatment with single agents alone. Combinations that achieve 'more than the sum of their parts' are called synergistic. There have been many proposed frameworks to understand and quantify drug combination synergy with different assumptions and domains of applicability. We introduce here synergy, a Python library that (i) implements a broad array of popular synergy models, (ii) provides tools for evaluating confidence intervals and conducting power analysis and (iii) provides standardized tools to analyze and visualize drug combinations and their synergies and antagonisms. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION synergy is available on all operating systems for Python >=3.5. It is freely available from https://pypi.org/project/synergy, and its source code is available at https://github.com/djwooten/synergy. This software is released under the GNU General Public License, version 3.0 or later. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Wooten
- Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Réka Albert
- Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Green AJ, Anchang B, Akhtari FS, Reif DM, Motsinger-Reif A. Extending the lymphoblastoid cell line model for drug combination pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics 2021; 22:543-551. [PMID: 34044623 DOI: 10.2217/pgs-2020-0160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Combination drug therapies have become an integral part of precision oncology, and while evidence of clinical effectiveness continues to grow, the underlying mechanisms supporting synergy are poorly understood. Immortalized human lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) have been proven as a particularly useful, scalable and low-cost model in pharmacogenetics research, and are suitable for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of synergistic combination therapies. In this review, we cover the advantages of LCLs in synergy pharmacogenomics and consider recent studies providing initial evidence of the utility of LCLs in synergy research. We also discuss several opportunities for LCL-based systems to address gaps in the research through the expansion of testing regimens, assessment of new drug classes and higher-order combinations, and utilization of integrated omics technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian J Green
- Department of Biological Sciences & the Bioinformatics Research Center, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Benedict Anchang
- Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Farida S Akhtari
- Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA
| | - David M Reif
- Department of Biological Sciences & the Bioinformatics Research Center, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Alison Motsinger-Reif
- Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA
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Shyr ZA, Cheng YS, Lo DC, Zheng W. Drug combination therapy for emerging viral diseases. Drug Discov Today 2021; 26:2367-2376. [PMID: 34023496 PMCID: PMC8139175 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Effective therapeutics to combat emerging viral infections are an unmet need. Historically, treatments for chronic viral infections with single drugs have not been successful, as exemplified by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Combination therapy for these diseases has led to improved clinical outcomes with dramatic reductions in viral load, morbidity, and mortality. Drug combinations can enhance therapeutic efficacy through additive, and ideally synergistic, effects for emerging and re-emerging viruses, such as influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, Ebola, Zika, and SARS-coronavirus 2 (CoV-2). Although novel drug development through traditional pipelines remains a priority, in the interim, effective synergistic drug candidates could be rapidly identified by drug-repurposing screens, facilitating accelerated paths to clinical testing and potential emergency use authorizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeenat A Shyr
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Yu-Shan Cheng
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Donald C Lo
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Wei Zheng
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Paradzik T, Bandini C, Mereu E, Labrador M, Taiana E, Amodio N, Neri A, Piva R. The Landscape of Signaling Pathways and Proteasome Inhibitors Combinations in Multiple Myeloma. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:1235. [PMID: 33799793 PMCID: PMC8000754 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13061235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Multiple myeloma is a malignancy of terminally differentiated plasma cells, characterized by an extreme genetic heterogeneity that poses great challenges for its successful treatment. Due to antibody overproduction, MM cells depend on the precise regulation of the protein degradation systems. Despite the success of PIs in MM treatment, resistance and adverse toxic effects such as peripheral neuropathy and cardiotoxicity could arise. To this end, the use of rational combinatorial treatments might allow lowering the dose of inhibitors and therefore, minimize their side-effects. Even though the suppression of different cellular pathways in combination with proteasome inhibitors have shown remarkable anti-myeloma activities in preclinical models, many of these promising combinations often failed in clinical trials. Substantial progress has been made by the simultaneous targeting of proteasome and different aspects of MM-associated immune dysfunctions. Moreover, targeting deranged metabolic hubs could represent a new avenue to identify effective therapeutic combinations with PIs. Finally, epigenetic drugs targeting either DNA methylation, histone modifiers/readers, or chromatin remodelers are showing pleiotropic anti-myeloma effects alone and in combination with PIs. We envisage that the positive outcome of patients will probably depend on the availability of more effective drug combinations and treatment of early MM stages. Therefore, the identification of sensitive targets and aberrant signaling pathways is instrumental for the development of new personalized therapies for MM patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina Paradzik
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy; (T.P.); (C.B.); (E.M.); (M.L.)
| | - Cecilia Bandini
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy; (T.P.); (C.B.); (E.M.); (M.L.)
| | - Elisabetta Mereu
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy; (T.P.); (C.B.); (E.M.); (M.L.)
| | - Maria Labrador
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy; (T.P.); (C.B.); (E.M.); (M.L.)
| | - Elisa Taiana
- Department of Oncology and Hemato-oncology, University of Milano, 20122 Milano, Italy; (E.T.); (A.N.)
- Hematology Unit, Fondazione Cà Granda IRCCS, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 20122 Milano, Italy
| | - Nicola Amodio
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy;
| | - Antonino Neri
- Department of Oncology and Hemato-oncology, University of Milano, 20122 Milano, Italy; (E.T.); (A.N.)
- Hematology Unit, Fondazione Cà Granda IRCCS, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 20122 Milano, Italy
| | - Roberto Piva
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy; (T.P.); (C.B.); (E.M.); (M.L.)
- Città Della Salute e della Scienza Hospital, 10126 Torino, Italy
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39
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Khaliq M, Manikkam M, Martinez ED, Fallahi-Sichani M. Epigenetic modulation reveals differentiation state specificity of oncogene addiction. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1536. [PMID: 33750776 PMCID: PMC7943789 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21784-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Hyperactivation of the MAPK signaling pathway motivates the clinical use of MAPK inhibitors for BRAF-mutant melanomas. Heterogeneity in differentiation state due to epigenetic plasticity, however, results in cell-to-cell variability in the state of MAPK dependency, diminishing the efficacy of MAPK inhibitors. To identify key regulators of such variability, we screen 276 epigenetic-modifying compounds, individually or combined with MAPK inhibitors, across genetically diverse and isogenic populations of melanoma cells. Following single-cell analysis and multivariate modeling, we identify three classes of epigenetic inhibitors that target distinct epigenetic states associated with either one of the lysine-specific histone demethylases Kdm1a or Kdm4b, or BET bromodomain proteins. While melanocytes remain insensitive, the anti-tumor efficacy of each inhibitor is predicted based on melanoma cells' differentiation state and MAPK activity. Our systems pharmacology approach highlights a path toward identifying actionable epigenetic factors that extend the BRAF oncogene addiction paradigm on the basis of tumor cell differentiation state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehwish Khaliq
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Mohan Manikkam
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Elisabeth D Martinez
- Department of Pharmacology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.,Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
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40
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Mäkelä P, Zhang SM, Rudd SG. Drug synergy scoring using minimal dose response matrices. BMC Res Notes 2021; 14:27. [PMID: 33468238 PMCID: PMC7816329 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-021-05445-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Combinations of pharmacological agents are essential for disease control and prevention, offering many advantages over monotherapies, with one of these being drug synergy. The state-of-the-art method to profile drug synergy in preclinical research is by using dose–response matrices in disease-appropriate models, however this approach is frequently labour intensive and cost-ineffective, particularly when performed in a medium- to high-throughput fashion. Thus, in this study, we set out to optimise a parameter of this methodology, determining the minimal matrix size that can be used to robustly detect and quantify synergy between two drugs. Results We used a drug matrix reduction workflow that allowed the identification of a minimal drug matrix capable of robustly detecting and quantifying drug synergy. These minimal matrices utilise substantially less reagents and data processing power than their typically used larger counterparts. Focusing on the antileukemic efficacy of the chemotherapy combination of cytarabine and inhibitors of ribonucleotide reductase, we could show that detection and quantification of drug synergy by three common synergy models was well-tolerated despite reducing matrix size from 8 × 8 to 4 × 4. Overall, the optimisation of drug synergy scoring as presented here could inform future medium- to high-throughput drug synergy screening strategies in pre-clinical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petri Mäkelä
- Science For Life Laboratory, Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Si Min Zhang
- Science For Life Laboratory, Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sean G Rudd
- Science For Life Laboratory, Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
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41
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Hackman GL, Collins M, Lu X, Lodi A, DiGiovanni J, Tiziani S. Predicting and Quantifying Antagonistic Effects of Natural Compounds Given with Chemotherapeutic Agents: Applications for High-Throughput Screening. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:cancers12123714. [PMID: 33322034 PMCID: PMC7763027 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12123714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Natural products have been used for centuries to treat various human ailments. In recent decades, multi-drug combinations that utilize natural products to synergistically enhance the therapeutic effects of cancer drugs have been identified and have shown success in improving treatment outcomes. While drug synergy research is a burgeoning field, there are disagreements on the definitions and mathematical parameters that prevent the standardization and proper usage of the terms synergy, antagonism, and additivity. This contributes to the relatively small amount of data on the antagonistic effects of natural products on cancer drugs that can diminish their therapeutic efficacy and prevent cancer regression. The ability of natural products to potentially degrade or reverse the molecular activity of cancer therapeutics represents an important but highly under-emphasized area of research that is often overlooked in both pre-clinical and clinical studies. This review aims to evaluate the body of work surrounding the antagonistic interactions between natural products and cancer therapeutics and highlight applications for high-throughput screening (HTS) and deep learning techniques for the identification of natural products that antagonize cancer drug efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Lavender Hackman
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (G.L.H.); (M.C.); (X.L.); (A.L.)
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA;
| | - Meghan Collins
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (G.L.H.); (M.C.); (X.L.); (A.L.)
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA;
| | - Xiyuan Lu
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (G.L.H.); (M.C.); (X.L.); (A.L.)
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA;
| | - Alessia Lodi
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (G.L.H.); (M.C.); (X.L.); (A.L.)
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA;
| | - John DiGiovanni
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA;
- Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Stefano Tiziani
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (G.L.H.); (M.C.); (X.L.); (A.L.)
- Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA;
- Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, LiveSTRONG Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-512-495-4706
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Padmanabhan P, Desikan R, Dixit NM. Targeting TMPRSS2 and Cathepsin B/L together may be synergistic against SARS-CoV-2 infection. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1008461. [PMID: 33290397 PMCID: PMC7748278 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Revised: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The entry of SARS-CoV-2 into target cells requires the activation of its surface spike protein, S, by host proteases. The host serine protease TMPRSS2 and cysteine proteases Cathepsin B/L can activate S, making two independent entry pathways accessible to SARS-CoV-2. Blocking the proteases prevents SARS-CoV-2 entry in vitro. This blockade may be achieved in vivo through 'repurposing' drugs, a potential treatment option for COVID-19 that is now in clinical trials. Here, we found, surprisingly, that drugs targeting the two pathways, although independent, could display strong synergy in blocking virus entry. We predicted this synergy first using a mathematical model of SARS-CoV-2 entry and dynamics in vitro. The model considered the two pathways explicitly, let the entry efficiency through a pathway depend on the corresponding protease expression level, which varied across cells, and let inhibitors compromise the efficiency in a dose-dependent manner. The synergy predicted was novel and arose from effects of the drugs at both the single cell and the cell population levels. Validating our predictions, available in vitro data on SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV entry displayed this synergy. Further, analysing the data using our model, we estimated the relative usage of the two pathways and found it to vary widely across cell lines, suggesting that targeting both pathways in vivo may be important and synergistic given the broad tissue tropism of SARS-CoV-2. Our findings provide insights into SARS-CoV-2 entry into target cells and may help improve the deployability of drug combinations targeting host proteases required for the entry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pranesh Padmanabhan
- Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, Queesnsland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Rajat Desikan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
| | - Narendra M. Dixit
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Centre for Biosystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
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43
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Cruz-Gordillo P, Honeywell ME, Harper NW, Leete T, Lee MJ. ELP-dependent expression of MCL1 promotes resistance to EGFR inhibition in triple-negative breast cancer cells. Sci Signal 2020; 13:13/658/eabb9820. [PMID: 33203722 DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.abb9820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Targeted therapeutics for cancer generally exploit "oncogene addiction," a phenomenon in which the growth and survival of tumor cells depend on the activity of a particular protein. However, the efficacy of oncogene-targeted therapies varies substantially. For instance, targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is effective in some non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) but not in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), although these cancers show a similar degree of increase in EGFR activity. Using a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 genetic knockout screen, we found that the Elongator (ELP) complex mediates insensitivity to the EGFR inhibitor erlotinib in TNBC cells by promoting the synthesis of the antiapoptotic protein Mcl-1. Depleting ELP proteins promoted apoptotic cell death in an EGFR inhibition-dependent manner. Pharmacological inhibition of Mcl-1 synergized with EGFR inhibition in a panel of genetically diverse TNBC cells. The findings indicate that TNBC "addiction" to EGFR signaling is masked by the ELP complex and that resistance to EGFR inhibitors in TNBC might be overcome by cotargeting Mcl-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Cruz-Gordillo
- Program in Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA 01605, USA
| | - Megan E Honeywell
- Program in Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA 01605, USA
| | - Nicholas W Harper
- Program in Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA 01605, USA
| | - Thomas Leete
- Program in Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA 01605, USA
| | - Michael J Lee
- Program in Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA 01605, USA. .,Program in Molecular Medicine, Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology (MCCB), University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA 01605, USA
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44
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Pruteanu LL, Kopanitsa L, Módos D, Kletnieks E, Samarova E, Bender A, Gomez LD, Bailey DS. Transcriptomics predicts compound synergy in drug and natural product treated glioblastoma cells. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0239551. [PMID: 32946518 PMCID: PMC7500592 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Pathway analysis is an informative method for comparing and contrasting drug-induced gene expression in cellular systems. Here, we define the effects of the marine natural product fucoxanthin, separately and in combination with the prototypic phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY-294002, on gene expression in a well-established human glioblastoma cell system, U87MG. Under conditions which inhibit cell proliferation, LY-294002 and fucoxanthin modulate many pathways in common, including the retinoblastoma, DNA damage, DNA replication and cell cycle pathways. In sharp contrast, we see profound differences in the expression of genes characteristic of pathways such as apoptosis and lipid metabolism, contributing to the development of a differentiated and distinctive drug-induced gene expression signature for each compound. Furthermore, in combination, fucoxanthin synergizes with LY-294002 in inhibiting the growth of U87MG cells, suggesting complementarity in their molecular modes of action and pointing to further treatment combinations. The synergy we observe between the dietary nutraceutical fucoxanthin and the synthetic chemical LY-294002 in producing growth arrest in glioblastoma, illustrates the potential of nutri-pharmaceutical combinations in targeting this challenging disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lavinia-Lorena Pruteanu
- IOTA Pharmaceuticals Ltd, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (LLP); (DSB)
| | - Liliya Kopanitsa
- IOTA Pharmaceuticals Ltd, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Dezső Módos
- Department of Chemistry, Centre for Molecular Informatics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Edgars Kletnieks
- Department of Chemistry, Centre for Molecular Informatics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Elena Samarova
- IOTA Pharmaceuticals Ltd, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Bender
- Department of Chemistry, Centre for Molecular Informatics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Leonardo Dario Gomez
- Department of Biology, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - David Stanley Bailey
- IOTA Pharmaceuticals Ltd, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (LLP); (DSB)
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45
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Cokol-Cakmak M, Cetiner S, Erdem N, Bakan F, Cokol M. Guided screen for synergistic three-drug combinations. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0235929. [PMID: 32645104 PMCID: PMC7347197 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Combinations of three or more drugs are routinely used in various medical fields such as clinical oncology and infectious diseases to prevent resistance or to achieve synergistic therapeutic benefits. The very large number of possible high-order drug combinations presents a formidable challenge for discovering synergistic drug combinations. Here, we establish a guided screen to discover synergistic three-drug combinations. Using traditional checkerboard and recently developed diagonal methods, we experimentally measured all pairwise interactions among eight compounds in Erwinia amylovora, the causative agent of fire blight. Showing that synergy measurements of these two methods agree, we predicted synergy/antagonism scores for all possible three-drug combinations by averaging the synergy scores of pairwise interactions. We validated these predictions by experimentally measuring 35 three-drug interactions. Therefore, our guided screen for discovering three-drug synergies is (i) experimental screen of all pairwise interactions using diagonal method, (ii) averaging pairwise scores among components to predict three-drug interaction scores, (iii) experimental testing of top predictions. In our study, this strategy resulted in a five-fold reduction in screen size to find the most synergistic three-drug combinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melike Cokol-Cakmak
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Selim Cetiner
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Nurdan Erdem
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Feray Bakan
- Nanotechnology Research and Application Center, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Murat Cokol
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Chantzi E, Neidlin M, Macheras GA, Alexopoulos LG, Gustafsson MG. COMBSecretomics: A pragmatic methodological framework for higher-order drug combination analysis using secretomics. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0232989. [PMID: 32407402 PMCID: PMC7224510 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Multi drug treatments are increasingly used in the clinic to combat complex and co-occurring diseases. However, most drug combination discovery efforts today are mainly focused on anticancer therapy and rarely examine the potential of using more than two drugs simultaneously. Moreover, there is currently no reported methodology for performing second- and higher-order drug combination analysis of secretomic patterns, meaning protein concentration profiles released by the cells. Here, we introduce COMBSecretomics (https://github.com/EffieChantzi/COMBSecretomics.git), the first pragmatic methodological framework designed to search exhaustively for second- and higher-order mixtures of candidate treatments that can modify, or even reverse malfunctioning secretomic patterns of human cells. This framework comes with two novel model-free combination analysis methods; a tailor-made generalization of the highest single agent principle and a data mining approach based on top-down hierarchical clustering. Quality control procedures to eliminate outliers and non-parametric statistics to quantify uncertainty in the results obtained are also included. COMBSecretomics is based on a standardized reproducible format and could be employed with any experimental platform that provides the required protein release data. Its practical use and functionality are demonstrated by means of a proof-of-principle pharmacological study related to cartilage degradation. COMBSecretomics is the first methodological framework reported to enable secretome-related second- and higher-order drug combination analysis. It could be used in drug discovery and development projects, clinical practice, as well as basic biological understanding of the largely unexplored changes in cell-cell communication that occurs due to disease and/or associated pharmacological treatment conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Efthymia Chantzi
- Cancer Pharmacology and Computational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Signals and Systems, Department of Electrical Engineering, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- * E-mail: (EC); (MGG)
| | - Michael Neidlin
- Biomedical Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | | | - Leonidas G. Alexopoulos
- Biomedical Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Mats G. Gustafsson
- Cancer Pharmacology and Computational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Signals and Systems, Department of Electrical Engineering, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- * E-mail: (EC); (MGG)
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