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Introduction: Despite the rapid progress in the diagnosis and treatment, the prognosis of some types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), especially those with double-hit or double-expressor genotypes, remains poor. Novel targets and compounds are needed to improve the prognosis of NHL., Methods: We investigated the effect of ZCL-082, a novel boron-containing compound with anti-proliferating activity against ovarian cancer cells, on NHL cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by CCK-8 assay, Annexin V/PI double staining assay, RH123/PI double staining, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. NF-κB pathway activity was analyzed using luciferase reporter gene assay and RT-PCR. The location of p65 was detected by immunofluorescence and nuclear/cytoplasmic fractionation assay. Immunoprecipitation and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were used to detect the binding between p65 and p300. CETSA and molecular docking assay were carried out to test the interaction between ZCL-082 and p90 ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (RSK1). Kinase reaction was conducted to examine the inhibition of RSK1 kinase activity by ZCL-082., Results: We found that ZCL-082 can induce the apoptosis of various NHL cell lines in vitro and in vivo. ZCL-082 significantly inhibits TNFα- or LPS-induced NF-κB activation without disturbing TNFα-induced IκBα degradation or the nuclear translocation and DNA-binding ability of p65. However, ZCL-082 markedly suppresses the phosphorylation of p65 on Ser536 and the interaction between p65 and p300. The overexpression of the phosphomimetic mutant of p65 at Ser536 partially abrogates ZCL-082-induced cell death. We further found that ZCL-082 directly binds to and inhibits the activity of RSK1. RSK1 can phosphorylate RelA/p65 on Ser536 and its overexpression is associated with the poor prognosis of lymphoma. The overexpression of RSK1 partially rescues ZCL-082-induced cell death. Molecular docking studies show that ZCL-082 fits well with the N-terminal kinase domain of RSK1. Furthermore, the combination of ZCL-082 and BCL-2 inhibitor ABT-199 has a synergistic apoptosis-inducing effect against double-hit lymphoma cell line OCI-Ly10., Discussion: We found that ZCL-082 is a highly promising anti-lymphoma compound that targets RSK1 and interferes with the RSK1/NF-κB signaling pathway. The combination of ZCL-082 with BCL-2 inhibitor may represent a novel strategy to improve the outcome of double-hit or double-expressor lymphoma., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Benzoxaboroles, as a novel class of bioactive molecules with unique physicochemical properties, have been shown to possess excellent antimicrobial activities with tavaborole approved in 2014 as an antifungal drug. Although urgently needed, the investigation of benzoxaboroles as anticancer agents has been lacking so far. In this study, we report the design, synthesis, and anticancer structure-activity relationship of a series of 7-propanamide benzoxaboroles. Compounds 103 and 115 showed potent activity against ovarian cancer cells with IC 50 values of 33 and 21 nM, respectively. Apoptosis was induced by these compounds and colony formation was effectively inhibited. Furthermore, they also showed excellent efficacy in ovarian tumor xenograft mouse model.

Cdc42 is a member of the Rho family of small GTPases that are at the crossroads of major oncogenic signaling pathways involved in both lung and prostate cancers. However, the therapeutic potential of Cdc42 regulation is still unclear due to the lack of pharmacological tools. Herein, we report that ZCL367 is a bona fide Cdc42 inhibitor that suppressed cancer development and ZCL278 can act as a partial Cdc42 agonist. In lung cancer cell lines with varying EGFR and Ras mutations as well as both androgen-independent and androgen-dependent prostate cancer cell lines, ZCL367 impeded cell cycle progression, reduced proliferation, and suppressed migration. ZCL367 decreased Cdc42-intersectin interactions and reduced Cdc42-mediated filopodia formation. ZCL367 showed increased potency and selectivity for Cdc42 when compared to Rac1 and RhoA. ZCL367 reduced A549 tumorigenesis in a xenograft mouse model. Altogether, ZCL367 is a selective Cdc42 inhibitor and an excellent candidate for lead compound optimization for further anticancer studies.

Background: The frequency of pro-oncogenic mutations and development of drug resistance are major challenges for successful Ras-related cancer treatment. Novel targets in the Ras-signaling pathway may address these challenges. Cell division cycle protein 42 (Cdc42) is a classical member of the Rho family of small GTPases in the Ras oncogene superfamily. Enhanced Cdc42-signaling facilitates Ras-mediated cellular transformation, tumorigenesis, and metastasis. Cdc42, Ras, and EGFR are involved in an activation loop that prolongs their signaling. This review evaluates the benefits of targeting Cdc42 signaling as an anti-Ras cancer target., Methods: We review the link between Ras and Cdc42 and summarize the roles of Cdc42 and select effectors in cancers. We discuss the discovery/development of Cdc42-signaling modulators and highlight studies that report the inhibition of the Cdc42-signaling pathway in several Ras-related cancer cell lines., Results: Compared to EGFR and Ras, mutations that lead to the prolonged activation of Cdc42 are less common. Activation of upstream signals, changes in regulator expression, and alterations of Cdc42 protein expression play an important role in regulating Cdc42 activity. Eight selected effectors/adaptors of Cdc42 play a role in oncogenic Ras signaling. Of the fourteen natural and synthetic Cdc42 inhibitors discussed, eight small molecule inhibitors of Cdc42 have been used effectively in Ras-related cancer lines derived from breast, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancer., Conclusions: Cdc42 is a putative therapeutic target in Ras-related cancers since Cdc42 functions downstream of EGFR and Ras, Cdc42 promotes/activates EGFR and Ras signaling, and Cdc42 inhibition in Ras-related cancers elicits anticancer effects., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

In this study, we report the synthesis of a series of chalcone-benzoxaborole hybrid molecules and the evaluation of their anticancer activity. Their anticancer potency and toxicity were tested on three human cancer cell lines and two normal cell lines. The 4-fluoro compound 15 was found to be the most potent compound with an IC 50 value of 1.4μM on SKOV3 cells. The 4-iodo compound 18 and 3-methyloxy-4-amino compound 47 showed good potency on SKOV3 cells while exhibiting low toxicity on normal cells. This work extended the application of benzoxaboroles to the field of anticancer research., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

SUMOylation, as a post-translational modification of proteins, plays essential regulatory roles in a variety of pathological conditions. In the dynamic process of SUMOylation and deSUMOylation, SENPs (SUMO-specific proteases), in charge of deconjugation of SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier) from substrate proteins, have recently been found to be potential therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. A reliable and practical assay is much needed to accelerate the discovery of SENPs inhibitors. We established a quantitative assay based on readily available SDS–PAGE-Coomassie system using RanGAP-SUMO as the substrate, thus avoiding the use of expensive fluorescent dyes or the error-prone fluorescent reporter. Its reproducibility and reliability were also evaluated in this report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As the best-characterized ubiquitin-like protein (UBL), small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) was found to conjugate with a number of proteins to regulate cellular functions including transcription, signal transduction, and cell cycle. While E1, E2 and E3 ligases are responsible for the forward SUMOylation reaction, SUMO-specific proteases (SENPs) reversibly remove SUMO from the SUMOylated proteins. Recently, SENP1 was found to be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of prostate cancers, but the design and synthesis of its inhibitors have not been reported. We designed and synthesized a series of benzodiazepine-based SENP1 inhibitors, and they showed inhibitory activity as good as IC50 =9.2μM (compound 38). The structure–activity relationship was also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]