Synergistic effects of the combined treatment of U251 and T98G glioma cells with an anti ‑tubulin tetrahydrothieno[2,3‑c]pyridine derivative and a peptide nucleic acid targeting miR‑221‑3p

Int J Oncol. 2021 Aug;59(2):61. doi: 10.3892/ijo.2021.5241. Epub 2021 Jul 19.ABSTRACTIn the development of novel and more effective anticancer approaches, combined treatments appear to be of great interest, based on the possibility of obtaining relevant biological or therapeutic effects using lower concentrations of single drugs. Combination therapy may prove to be of utmost significance in the management of glioblastoma (GBM), a lethal malignancy that accounts for 42% of cancer cases of the central nervous system, with a median survival rate of 15 months. As regards novel therapeutic approaches, the authors have recently demonstrated that peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) that target microRNA (miRNA/miR)‑221 are very active in inducing the apoptosis of glioma cells. Furthermore, in a recent study, the authors described two novel series of tubulin polymerization inhibitors based on the 4,5,6,7‑tetrahydrothieno[2,3‑c]pyridine and 4,5,6,7‑tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene scaffold, which exerted a potent anti‑proliferative effect on a variety of tumor cell lines. The present study aimed to verify the activity on glioblastoma cancer cell lines of one of the most active compounds tested, corresponding to 2‑(3', 4', 5'‑trimethoxyanilino)‑3‑cyano/alkoxycarbonyl‑6‑substituted‑4 5,6,7‑tetrahydrothiene[2,3‑c] pyridine (compound 3b), used in combination with an anti‑miR‑221‑3p PNA, already demonstrated to be able to induce high levels of apoptosis. To the best of...
Source: International Journal of Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research