1294447-01-0Relevant academic research and scientific papers
3-Ketone-4,6-diene ceramide analogs exclusively induce apoptosis in chemo-resistant cancer cells
Ponnapakam, Adharsh P.,Liu, Jiawang,Bhinge, Kaustubh N.,Drew, Barbara A.,Wang, Tony L.,Antoon, James W.,Nguyen, Thong T.,Dupart, Patrick S.,Wang, Yuji,Zhao, Ming,Liu, Yong-Yu,Foroozesh, Maryam,Beckman, Barbara S.
, p. 1412 - 1420 (2014/03/21)
Multidrug-resistance is a major cause of cancer chemotherapy failure in clinical treatment. Evidence shows that multidrug-resistant cancer cells are as sensitive as corresponding regular cancer cells under the exposure to anticancer ceramide analogs. In this work we designed five new ceramide analogs with different backbones, in order to test the hypothesis that extending the conjugated system in ceramide analogs would lead to an increase of their anticancer activity and selectivity towards resistant cancer cells. The analogs with the 3-ketone-4,6-diene backbone show the highest apoptosis-inducing efficacy. The most potent compound, analog 406, possesses higher pro-apoptotic activity in chemo-resistant cell lines MCF-7TN-R and NCI/ADR-RES than the corresponding chemo-sensitive cell lines MCF-7 and OVCAR-8, respectively. However, this compound shows the same potency in inhibiting the growth of another pair of chemo-sensitive and chemo-resistant cancer cells, MCF-7 and MCF-7/Dox. Mechanism investigations indicate that analog 406 can induce apoptosis in chemo-resistant cancer cells through the mitochondrial pathway. Cellular glucosylceramide synthase assay shows that analog 406 does not interrupt glucosylceramide synthase in chemo-resistant cancer cell NCI/ADR-RES. These findings suggest that due to certain intrinsic properties, ceramide analogs' pro-apoptotic activity is not disrupted by the normal drug-resistance mechanisms, leading to their potential use for overcoming cancer multidrug-resistance.
Exploring Leishmania major Inositol Phosphorylceramide Synthase (LmjIPCS): Insights into the ceramide binding domain
Mina, John G.,Mosely, Jackie A.,Ali, Hayder Z.,Denny, Paul W.,Steel, Patrick G.
supporting information; experimental part, p. 1823 - 1830 (2011/04/26)
The synthesis of set of ceramide analogues exploring hydrophobicity in the acyl chains and the degree and nature of hydroxylation is described. These have been assayed against the parasitic protozoan enzyme LmjIPCS. These studies showed that whilst the C-3 hydroxyl group was not essential for turnover it provided enhanced affinity. Reflecting the membrane bound nature of the enzyme a long (C13) hydrocarbon ceramide tail was necessary for both high affinity and turnover. Whilst the N-acyl chain also contributed to affinity, analogues lacking the amide linkage functioned as competitive inhibitors in both enzyme and cell-based assays. A model that accounts for this observation is proposed.
