- Combination of chemotherapy and oxidative stress to enhance cancer cell apoptosis
-
Cancer cells are vulnerable to reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to their abnormal redox environment. Accordingly, combination of chemotherapy and oxidative stress has gained increasing interest for the treatment of cancer. We report a novel seleno-prodrug of gemcitabine (Gem), Se-Gem, and evaluated its activation and biological effects in cancer cells. Se-Gem was prepared by introducing a 1,2-diselenolane (a five-membered cyclic diselenide) moiety into the parent drug Gemvia a carbamate linker. Se-Gem is preferably activated by glutathione (GSH) and displays a remarkably higher potency than Gem (up to a 6-fold increase) to a panel of cancer cell lines. The activation of Se-Gem by GSH releases Gem and a seleno-intermediate nearly quantitatively. Unlike the most ignored side products in prodrug activation, the seleno-intermediate further catalyzes a conversion of GSH and oxygen to GSSG (oxidized GSH) and ROS via redox cycling reactions. Thus Se-Gem may be considered as a suicide agent to deplete GSH and works by a combination of chemotherapy and oxidative stress. This is the first case that employs a cyclic diselenide in prodrug design, and the success of Se-Gem as well as its well-defined action mechanism demonstrates that the 1,2-diselenolane moiety may serve as a general scaffold to advance constructing novel therapeutic molecules with improved potency via a combination of chemotherapy and oxidative stress.
- Fang, Jianguo,Hou, Yanan,Li, Jin,Li, Xinming,Wang, Song,Zhao, Jintao
-
p. 3215 - 3222
(2020/04/08)
-
- Hydrogen Bonding-Assisted Enhancement of the Reaction Rate and Selectivity in the Kinetic Resolution of d,l-1,2-Diols with Chiral Nucleophilic Catalysts
-
An extremely efficient acylative kinetic resolution of d,l-1,2-diols in the presence of only 0.5 mol% of binaphthyl-based chiral N,N-4-dimethylaminopyridine was developed (selectivity factor of up to 180). Several key experiments revealed that hydrogen bonding between the tert-alcohol unit(s) of the catalyst and the 1,2-diol unit of the substrate is critical for accelerating the rate of monoacylation and achieving high enantioselectivity. This catalytic system can be applied to a wide range of substrates involving racemic acyclic and cyclic 1,2-diols with high selectivity factors. The kinetic resolution of d,l-hydrobenzoin and trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol on a multigram scale (10 g) also proceeded with high selectivity and under moderate reaction conditions: (i) very low catalyst loading (0.1 mol%); (ii) an easily achievable low reaction temperature (0 °C); (iii) high substrate concentration (1.0 M); and (iv) short reaction time (30 min). (Figure presented.).
- Fujii, Kazuki,Mitsudo, Koichi,Mandai, Hiroki,Suga, Seiji
-
supporting information
p. 2778 - 2788
(2017/08/23)
-