A Functional Screening Identifies a New Organic Selenium Compound Targeting Cancer Stem Cells: Role of c-Myc Transcription Activity Inhibition in Liver Cancer
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are reported to play essential roles in chemoresistance and metastasis. Pathways regulating CSC self-renewal and proliferation, such as Hedgehog, Notch, Wnt/beta-catenin, TGF-beta, and Myc, may be potential therapeutic targets. Here, a functional screening from the focused library with 365 compounds is performed by a step-by-step strategy. Among these candidate molecules, phenyl-2-pyrimidinyl ketone 4-ally)-3-amino selenourea (CU27) is chosen for further identification because it proves to be the most effective compound over others on CSC inhibition. Through ingenuity pathway analysis, it is shown CU27 may inhibit CSC through a well-known sternness-related transcription factor c-Myc. Gene set enrichment analysis, dual-luciferase reporter assays, expression levels of typical c-Myc targets, molecular docking, surface plasmon resonance, immunoprecipitation, and chromatin immunoprecipitation are conducted. These results together suggest CU27 binds c-Myc bHLH/LZ domains, inhibits c-Myc-Max complex formation, and prevents its occupancy on target gene promoters. In mouse models, CU27 significantly sensitizes sorafenib-resistant tumor to sorafenib, reduces the primary tumor size, and inhibits CSC generation, showing a dramatic anti-metastasis potential. Taken together, CU27 exerts inhibitory effects on CSC and CSC-associated traits in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via c-Myc transcription activity inhibition. CU27 may be a promising therapeutic to treat sorafenib-resistant HCC.
基金:
National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFA0103100, 2017YFA0103103, 2017YFA0103104]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [81773137]; Guangzhou Health Care and Cooperative Innovation Major Project [201704020224]; National Science and Technology Major Projects for "Major NewDrugs Innovation and Development" [2018ZX09711003]
第一作者机构:[1]Beijing Inst Radiat Med, Stem Cell & Regenerat Med Lab, Beijing 100850, Peoples R China[2]South China Res Ctr Stem Cell & Regenerat Med SCI, Guangzhou 510005, Peoples R China
共同第一作者:
通讯作者:
通讯机构:[1]Beijing Inst Radiat Med, Stem Cell & Regenerat Med Lab, Beijing 100850, Peoples R China[2]South China Res Ctr Stem Cell & Regenerat Med SCI, Guangzhou 510005, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式(GB/T 7714):
Zhou Jun-Nian,Zhang Biao,Wang Hai-Yang,et al.A Functional Screening Identifies a New Organic Selenium Compound Targeting Cancer Stem Cells: Role of c-Myc Transcription Activity Inhibition in Liver Cancer[J].ADVANCED SCIENCE.2022,9(22):doi:10.1002/advs.202201166.
APA:
Zhou, Jun-Nian,Zhang, Biao,Wang, Hai-Yang,Wang, Dong-Xing,Zhang, Ming-Ming...&Pei, Xue-Tao.(2022).A Functional Screening Identifies a New Organic Selenium Compound Targeting Cancer Stem Cells: Role of c-Myc Transcription Activity Inhibition in Liver Cancer.ADVANCED SCIENCE,9,(22)
MLA:
Zhou, Jun-Nian,et al."A Functional Screening Identifies a New Organic Selenium Compound Targeting Cancer Stem Cells: Role of c-Myc Transcription Activity Inhibition in Liver Cancer".ADVANCED SCIENCE 9..22(2022)