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Since several decades, the prodrug concept has raised considerable interest in cancer research due to its potential to overcome common problems associated with chemotherapy. However, for small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which also cause severe side effects, hardly any strategies to generate prodrugs for therapeutic improvement have been reported so far. Here, we present the synthesis and biological investigation of a cathepsin B-cleavable prodrug of the VEGFR inhibitor sunitinib. Cell viability assays and Western blot analyses revealed, that, in contrast to the non-cathepsin B-cleavable reference compound, the prodrug shows activity comparable to the original drug sunitinib in the highly cathepsin B-expressing cell lines Caki-1 and RU-MH. Moreover, a cathepsin B cleavage assay confirmed the desired enzymatic activation of the prodrug. Together, the obtained data show that the concept of cathepsin B-cleavable prodrugs can be transferred to the class of targeted therapeutics, allowing the development of optimized tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

The development of receptor tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs) was a major step forward in cancer treatment. However, the therapy with TKIs is limited by strong side effects and drug resistance. The aim of this study was the design of novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors that are specifically activated in malignant tissue. Thus, a Co(III) -based prodrug strategy for the targeted release of an EGFR inhibitor triggered by hypoxia in the solid tumor was used. New inhibitors with chelating moieties were prepared and tested for their EGFR-inhibitory potential. The most promising candidate was coupled to Co(III) and the biological activity tested in cell culture. Indeed, hypoxic activation and subsequent EGFR inhibition was proven. Finally, the compound was tested in vivo, also revealing potent anticancer activity., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Arsenic trioxide (ATO), one of the oldest remedies used in traditional medicine, was recently rediscovered as an anticancer drug and approved for treatment of relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia. However, its activity against nonhematologic cancers is rather limited so far. Here, we show that inhibition of ATO-mediated EGF receptor (EGFR) activation can be used to potently sensitize diverse solid cancer types against ATO. Thus, combination of ATO and the EGFR inhibitor erlotinib exerted synergistic activity against multiple cancer cell lines. Subsequent analyses revealed that this effect was based on the blockade of ATO-induced EGFR phosphorylation leading to more pronounced G2-M arrest as well as enhanced and more rapid induction of apoptosis. Comparable ATO-sensitizing effects were also found with PI3K/AKT and mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) inhibitors, suggesting an essential role of the EGFR-mediated downstream signaling pathway in cancer cell protection against ATO. H2AX staining and comet assay revealed that erlotinib significantly increases ATO-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) well in accordance with a role of the EGFR signaling axis in DNA damage repair. Indeed, EGFR inhibition led to downregulation of several DNA DSB repair proteins such as Rad51 and Rad50 as well as reduced phosphorylation of BRCA1. Finally, the combination treatment of ATO and erlotinib was also distinctly superior to both monotreatments against the notoriously therapy-resistant human A549 lung cancer and the orthotopic p31 mesothelioma xenograft model in vivo. In conclusion, this study suggests that combination of ATO and EGFR inhibitors is a promising therapeutic strategy against various solid tumors harboring wild-type EGFR., (©2013 AACR)