HPLC Method Research of Picoplatin-a New Platinum Anti-cancer Drug and Its Impurities

Purpose: To establish a HPLC testing method of the content of bulk picoplatin and its impurities. Method: the separation was perform on a C18 column(4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 m) with potassium dihydrogen phosphate-aceton-itrile as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detecting wavelength was set at 210 nm, and the column temperature was set at 30℃. Result: in the method validation, the linear relationship modulus of picoplatin is 0.9999, the systemic precision is 0.44%, the method precision is 0.74%, the average recovery rate is 99.62%, the LOD and LOQ of picoplatin is 0.2 ng and 1.0 ng. The average resolution of picoplatin and its impurities is more than 2. Conclusion: The established method is good specificity, high sensitivity, and good repeatability which could provide scientific evidence for the quality control of picoplatin and its impurities.

CRISPR accelerates the cancer drug discovery

Emerging cohorts and basic studies have associated certain genetic modifications in cancer patients,such as gene mutation,amplification,or deletion,with the overall survival prognosis,underscoring patients’genetic background may directly regulate drug sensitivity/resistance during chemotherapies.Understanding the molecular mechanism underpinning drug sensitivity/resistance and further uncovering the effective drugs have been the major ambition in the cancer drug discovery.The emergence and popularity of CRISPR/Cas9 technology have reformed the entire life science research,providing a precise and simplified genome editing tool with unlimited editing possibilities.Furthermore,it presents a powerful tool in cancer drug discovery,which hopefully facilitates us with a rapid and reliable manner in developing novel therapies and understanding the molecular mechanisms of drug sensitivity/resistance.Herein,we summarized the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in drug screening,with the focus on CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene knockout,gene knock-in,as well as transcriptional modification.Additionally,this review provides the concerns,cautions,and ethnic considerations that need to be taken when applying CRISPR in the drug discovery.

Control the Silver Content in the Preparation Process of Platinum Group Anti-cancer Drugs

In order to control the silver content in the preparation process of platinum group anti-cancer drugs, we put two kinds of color reagent to color in the production process of the platinum anti-cancer drugs by UV spectra measurement to control drugs production of platinum anticancer, thus we could control the silver content in the drugs so that it meets the pharmacopoeia standards of US and

Targeting autophagic pathways for cancer drug discovery

Autophagy , an evolutionarily conserved lysosomal degradation process , has drawn an increasing amount of attention in recent years for its role in a variety of human diseases, such as cancer. Notably, autophagy plays an important role in regulating several survival and death signaling pathways that determine cell fate in cancer. To date, substantial evidence has demonstrated that some key autophagic mediators, such as autophagy-related genes (ATGs), PI3K, mTOR, p53, and Beclin-1, may play crucial roles in modulating autophagic activity in cancer initiation and progression. Because autophagy-modulating agents such as rapamycin and chloroquine have already been used clinically to treat cancer, it is conceivable that targeting autophagic pathways may provide a new opportunity for discovery and development of more novel cancer therapeutics. With a deeper understanding of the regulatory mechanisms governing autophagy, we will have a better opportunity to facilitate the exploitation of autophagy as a target for therapeutic intervention in cancer. This review discusses the current status of targeting autophagic pathways as a potential cancer therapy.

Carbohydrate-associated epitope-based anti-cancer drugs and vaccines

RP215 is one of the three thousand monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) which were generated against the OC-3-VGH ovarian cancer cell line. RP215 was shown to react with a carbohydrate-associated epitope located specifically on glycoproteins, known as CA215, from cancer cells. Further molecular analysis by matrix adsorption laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) revealed that CA215 consists mainly of immunoglobulin super-family (IgSF) proteins, including immunoglobulins, T-cell receptors, and cell adhesion molecules, as well as several other unrelated proteins. Peptide mappings and glycoanalysis were performed with CA215 and revealed high-mannose and complex bisecting structures with terminal sialic acid in N-glycans. As many as ten O-glycans, which are structurally similar to those of mucins, were also identified. In addition, two additional O-linked glycans were exclusively detected in cancerous immunoglobulins but not in normal B cell-derived immunoglobulins. Immunizations of mice with purified CA215 resulted in the predominant generation of RP215-related Mabs, indicating the immunodominance of this carbohydrate-associated epitope. Anti-idiotype (anti-id) Mabs of RP215, which were generated in the rat, were shown to contain the internal images of the carbohydrate-associated epitope. Following immunizations of these anti-id Mabs in mice, the resulting anti-anti-id (Ab3) responses in mice were found to be immunologically similar to that of RP215. Judging from these observations, anti-id Mabs, which carry the internal image of the RP215-specific epitope, may be suitable candidates for anticancer vaccine development in humans.

Evolution of costs of cancer drugs in a Portuguese hospital

AIM:To analyze the costs of cancer drugs administered in a Portuguese Hospital compared with the Karolinska Institute study.METHODS:To evaluate spending on cancer drugs, we retrospectively analyzed data on the overall costs of cancer drugs, obtained at the Department of Medical Oncology of the Centro Hospitalar de Entre Douro e Vouga, between 2004 and 2010. In this comparative study we selected only drugs belonging to the following groups:chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and endocrine therapy. The selected drugs were further grouped according to their market placement year:≤ 1998, 1999 to 2002, 2003 to 2005, and 2006 to 2010. Drugs used as supportive therapy and bisphosphonates were excluded.RESULTS:The overall costs of cancer drugs increased gradually between 2004 and 2008(from €1911947 to €3666284), with an increase in the number of patients treated during this period. The expenditure decreased in 2009(€3438155) and increased again in 2010(€3673116), but the costs increment was not the same as in previous years. Chemotherapy and targeted therapy were responsible for most of the expenditure. Drugs placed on the national market before 1999 accounted for more than 50% of the expenditure up to 2007. From 2008, these drugs represented less than 50% of the total expenditure. Cancer drugs placed between 1999 and 2002 accounted for 25%-35% of the costs in all the years studied, while drugs placed between 2003 and 2005 accounted for less than 30%. Drugs placed between 2006 and 2010 were responsible for less than 10% of the expenditure.CONCLUSION:In this study, older drugs were responsible for most of the expenditure up to 2007, which is in agreement with the Karolinska study.

Drug-Drug Interactions in Patients with Breast Cancer

The research paper investigates the intricate landscape of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) within the context of breast cancer treatment, with a particular focus on the elderly population and the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The study underscores the heightened susceptibility of elderly patients to DDIs due to the prevalence of polypharmacy and the widespread utilization of CAM among breast cancer patients. The potential ramifications of DDIs, encompassing adverse drug events and diminished treatment efficacy, are elucidated. The paper accentuates the imperative for healthcare providers to comprehensively understand both conventional and CAM therapies, enabling them to provide patients with informed guidance regarding safe and efficacious treatment options, culminating in enhanced patient outcomes.

Supramolecular host-guest nanosystems for overcoming cancer drug resistance

Cancer drug resistance has become one of the main challenges for the failure of chemotherapy,greatly limiting the selection and use of anticancer drugs and dashing the hopes of cancer patients.The emergence of supramolecular host-guest nanosystems has brought the field of supramolecular chemistry into the nanoworld,providing a potential solution to this challenge.Compared with conventional chemotherapeutic platforms,supramolecular host-guest nanosystems can reverse cancer drug resistance by increasing drug uptake,reducing drug efflux,activating drugs,and inhibiting DNA repair.Herein,we summarize the research progress of supramolecular host-guest nanosystems for overcoming cancer drug resistance and discuss the future research direction in this field.It is hoped that this review will provide more positive references for overcoming cancer drug resistance and promoting the development of supramolecular host-guest nanosystems.

New mechanisms of multidrug resistance: an introduction to the Cancer Drug Resistance special collection

Cancer Drug Resistance publishes contributions to understanding the biology and consequences of mechanisms that interfere with successful treatment of cancer. Since virtually all patients who die of metastatic cancer have multidrug-resistant tumors, improved treatment will require an understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to design therapies that circumvent these mechanisms, exploit these mechanisms, or inactivate these multidrug resistance mechanisms. One example of a resistance mechanism is the expression of ATP-binding cassette efflux pumps, but unfortunately, inhibition of these transporters has not proved to be the solution to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer. Other mechanisms that confer multidrug resistance, and the confluence of multiple different mechanisms (multifactorial multidrug resistance) have been identified, and it is the goal of this Special Collection to expand this catalog of potential multidrug resistance mechanisms, to explore novel ways to overcome resistance, and to present thoughtful reviews on the problem of multidrug resistance in cancer.

Development of Extraction and Detection Method for a Chemotherapeutic Drug with Phenytoin in Biological Samples

Dexamethasone is classified as a corticosteroid and is commonly used among cancer patients to decrease the amount of swelling around the tumor. Among patients with cancer, in particular brain tumors, seizures can become a daily routine in their everyday lives. To counteract the seizures, an antiepileptic drug such as phenytoin is administered to act as an anticonvulsant. Phenytoin and dexamethasone are frequently administrated concurrently to brain cancer patients. A previous study has shown that phenytoin serum concentration decreases when administrated concurrently with dexamethasone. Thus, it is important to monitor the concentration of these two drugs in biological samples to ensure that the proper dosages are administrated to the patients. This study aims to develop an effective extraction and detection method for dexamethasone and phenytoin. A reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with UV/Vis detection has been developed to separate phenytoin and dexamethasone at 219 nm and 241 nm respectively from urine samples. The mobile phase consists of a mixture of 0.01 M KH2PO4, acetonitrile, and methanol adjusted to pH 5.6 (48:32:20) and is pumped at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Calibration curves were prepared for phenytoin and dexamethasone (r2 > 0.99). An efficient solid-phase extraction (SPE) method for the extraction of dexamethasone and phenytoin from urine samples was developed with the use of C-18 cartridges. The percent recovery for phenytoin and dexamethasone is 95.4% (RSD = 1.15%) and 81.1% (RSD = 3.56%) respectively.

Breast Cancer MCF-7 Cell Spheroid Culture for Drug Discovery and Development

In vitro 3D cancer spheroids (tumoroids) exhibit a drug resistance profile similar to that found in solid tumors. 3D spheroid culture methods recreate more physiologically relevant microenvironments for cells. Therefore, these models are more appropriate for cancer drug screening. We have recently developed a protocol for MCF-7 cell spheroid culture, and used this method to test the effects of different types of drugs on this estrogen-dependent breast cancer cell spheroid. Our results demonstrated that MCF-7 cells can grow spheroid in medium using a low attachment plate. We managed to grow one spheroid in each well, and the spheroid can grow over a month, the size of the spheroid can grow over a hundred times in volume. Our targeted drug experimental results suggest that estrogen sulfotransferase, steroid sulfatase, and G protein-coupled estrogen receptor may play critical roles in MCF-7 cell spheroid growth, while estrogen receptors α and β may not play an essential role in MCF-7 spheroid growth. Organoids are the miniatures of in vivo tissues and reiterate the in vivo microenvironment of a specific organ, best fit for the in vitro studies of diseases and drug development. Tumoroid, developed from cancer cell lines or patients’ tumor tissue, is the best in vitro model of in vivo tumors. 3D spheroid technology will be the best future method for drug development of cancers and other diseases. Our reported method can be developed clinically to develop personalized drugs when the patient’s tumor tissues are used to develop a spheroid culture for drug screening.

Antibody-Coupled Drugs in HER2-Positive Gastric Cancer

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are a new class of drugs that combine chemosynthetic drugs with antibody drugs through a linker. Antibody drug conjugates combine the targeting characteristics of traditional antibody drugs with the cytotoxic characteristics of small molecule drugs, while reducing the side effects of both drugs, making them a kind of “biological missile” and representing a relatively new and evolving class of anti-cancer drugs. Antibody-coupled drugs are currently used in many solid tumors, and this article reviews the clinical application of antibody-coupled drugs in HER2-positive gastric cancer.

Research Progress of Breast Cancer Stem Cell Stemness and Breast Cancer Recurrence

Currently, breast cancer is the most common malignant tumour in Chinese women with a high incidence rate, and recurrence and metastasis are the main reasons affecting survival. Breast Cancer Stem Cells (BCSCs) are stem cells capable of continuous regeneration in vivo with strong self-renewal ability and multidirectional differentiation potential, which are highly tumourigenic and insensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and are highly susceptible to breast cancer recurrence. Therefore, exploring the stemness of BCSCs and their mechanism associated with recurrence is important for developing new therapeutic strategies, improving therapeutic efficacy, and improving patient prognosis.

Pharmacological Effects of Serum Containing Chinese Medicine Bushen Huayu Jiedu Compound Recipe (补肾化瘀解毒复方) in Lung Cancer Drug-resistance Cells

Objective： To explore the pharmacologic effects of Chinese medicine Bushen Huayu Jiedu Compound Recipe （补肾化瘀解毒复方,BSHYJDR） in drug-resistance cells of lung cancer. Methods： Human lung adenocarcinoma A549/DDP cell strain was selected, serum pharmacology and flow cytometer （FCM） method were adopted, $180 tumor-bearing mice and normal mice were given, through gastrogavage, different doses of a decocted concentration of BSHYJDR. Serum from the abdominal aorta was taken to observe the effect of drug-serum on cisplatin （DDP） concentration, free Ca^2＋ concentration and the expression of lung drug-resistance protein LRP-56 in A549/DDP cells. Results： Compared with the drug-resistance group, the intracellular DDP concentration in the group taking a high dose and the normal group of Chinese medicine showed significant difference （P〈0.05）, while no significant difference was found in the low-dose group （P〉0.05）. Compared with the drug-resistance group, the Ca^2＋ concentration in cells and the expression of LRP in lung cancer drug-resistance cells A549/DDP of the high-dose group, the low-dose group and the normal group of Chinese medicine were significantly different （all P〈0.01）, the LRP expression of the normal group was obviously higher than that of the drug-resistance group （P〈0.05）. Cenclusien： It was indicated that serum containing Chinese medicine BSHYJDR in the tumor-bearing mice and the normal mice had certainly different, tumor-bearing mice serum containing could improve drug concentration in lung cancer drug-resistance cells, prevent the inflow and release of Ca^2＋, and inhibit the expression of the drug-resistance gene in the lung cancer drug-resistance cells, which might be the mechanism of BSHYJDR in enhancing the efficacy in reversing and inhibiting tumor.

The importance of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and autophagy in cancer drug resistance

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)and autophagy are both known to play important roles in the development of cancer.Subsequently,these processes are now being utilised as targets for therapy.Cancer is globally one of the leading causes of death,and,despite many advances in treatment options,patients still face many challenges.Drug resistance in cancer-therapy is a large problem,and both EMT and autophagy have been shown to contribute.However,given the context-dependent role of these processes and the complexity of the interactions between them,elucidating how they both act alone and interact is important.In this review,we provide insight into the current landscape of the interactions of autophagy and EMT in the context of malignancy,and how this ultimately may affect drug resistance in cancer therapy.

Opportunities and challenges of implementing Pharmacogenomics in cancer drug development

Cancer drug development is a time and resources consuming process.Around 90%of drugs entering clinical trials fail due to lack of efficacy and/or safety issues,more often after conspicuous research and economic efforts.Part of the discarded drugs might be beneficial only in a subgroup of the study patients,and some adverse events might be prevented by identifying those patients more vulnerable to toxicities.The implementation of pharmacogenomic biomarkers allows the categorization of patients,to predict efficacy and toxicity and to optimize the drug development process.Around seventy FDA approved drugs currently present one or more genetic biomarker to keep in consideration,and with the progress of Precision Medicine tailoring therapies on individuals’genomic landscape promises to become a new standard of cancer care.In the current article we review the role of pharmacogenomics in cancer drug development,underlying the advantages and challenges of their implementation.

Atom engineering-regulated in situ transition of Cu(Ⅰ)-Cu(Ⅱ)for efficiently overcoming cancer drug resistance

The search of highly efficient drugs for overcoming cancer drug resistance continues to be a challenge for scientists.Constructing a metal drug based in situ oxidation-state transition system to disturb the redox balance in cancer cells is a promising approach for overcoming cancer drug resistance.Inspired by natural redox-active copper enzyme centers,we developed a Cu(Ⅰ)-Cu(Ⅱ) in situ transition system in this work.Through atom engineering,we fine-tuned the thermodynamic stability of this system to investigate its anticancer activity.The results indicated that the synthetic Cu(Ⅰ)-Cu(Ⅱ) system could under-go in situ transition in vitro and in vivo,to disrupt the intracellular redox balance and trigger mitochondrial dysfunction and G2/M arrest,leading to apoptosis and overcoming cancer drug resistance.This study presents a feasible way to overcome cancer drug resistance by designing an in situ oxidation-state transition metal drug system.

Exploring near-infrared absorbing nanocarriers to overcome cancer drug resistance

One of the major obstacles of successful cancer therapy is cancer drug resistance.The unique tools and applications developed by nanomedicine provide new approaches to surmount this common limitation of current treatment regimens.Nanocarriers that absorb light in the near-infrared spectrum are particularly suitable for this purpose.These nanocarriers can produce heat,release drugs or stimulate the production of physiologically relevant compounds when illuminated with near-infrared light.The current review summarizes the causes contributing to cancer multidrug resistance.The major types of nanocarriers that have been developed in recent years to overcome these hurdles are described.We focus on nanoparticles that are responsive to near-infrared light and suitable to surmount cancer multidrug resistance.Our review concludes with the bottlenecks that currently restrict the use of nanocarriers in the clinic and an outlook on future directions.

MicroRNAs and cancer drug resistance: over two thousand characters in search of a role

MicroRNAs(miRNAs),a group of small regulatory noncoding RNAs,transformed our thinking on gene regulation.More than two thousand human miRNAs have been identified thus far.These bind imperfectly to the 3’-untranslated region of target mRNA and have been involved in several pathological conditions including cancer.In fact,major hallmarks of cancer,such as the cell cycle,cell proliferation,survival and invasion are modulated by miRNAs.Cancer drug resistance(CDR)has also been described as being modulated by miRNAs.CDR remains a burden for cancer therapy and patients’outcome,often resulting in more aggressive tumours that tend to metastasize to distant organs.In this review we discuss the role of miRNAs influencing drug metabolism and drug influx/efflux,two important mechanisms of CDR.