2. Academic Validation
  3. A novel BMI-1 inhibitor QW24 for the treatment of stem-like colorectal cancer

A novel BMI-1 inhibitor QW24 for the treatment of stem-like colorectal cancer

  • J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Oct 22;38(1):422. doi: 10.1186/s13046-019-1392-8.
Jinhua Wang 1,  Yajing Xing 1,  Yingying Wang 2,  Yundong He 1,  Liting Wang 2,  Shihong Peng 1,  Lianfang Yang 2,  Jiuqing Xie 1,  Xiaotao Li 3,  Wenwei Qiu 4,  Zhengfang Yi 5 6,  Mingyao Liu 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 East China Normal University and Shanghai Fengxian District Central Hospital Joint Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China.
  • 2 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
  • 3 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
  • 4 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China. wwqiu@chem.ecnu.edu.cn.
  • 5 East China Normal University and Shanghai Fengxian District Central Hospital Joint Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China. zfyi@bio.ecnu.edu.cn.
  • 6 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China. zfyi@bio.ecnu.edu.cn.
  • 7 East China Normal University and Shanghai Fengxian District Central Hospital Joint Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China. myliu@bio.ecnu.edu.cn.
PMID: 31640758 DOI: 10.1186/s13046-019-1392-8
Abstract

Background: Cancer-initiating cell (CIC), a functionally homogeneous stem-like cell population, is resonsible for driving the tumor maintenance and metastasis, and is a source of chemotherapy and radiation-therapy resistance within tumors. Targeting CICs self-renewal has been proposed as a therapeutic goal and an effective approach to control tumor growth. BMI-1, a critical regulator of self-renewal in the maintenance of CICs, is identified as a potential target for colorectal Cancer therapy.

Methods: Colorectal Cancer stem-like cell lines HCT116 and HT29 were used for screening more than 500 synthetic compounds by sulforhodamine B (SRB) cell proliferation assay. The candidate compound was studied in vitro by SRB cell proliferation assay, western blotting, cell colony formation assay, quantitative Real-Time PCR, flow cytometry analysis, and transwell migration assay. Sphere formation assay and limiting dilution analysis (LDA) were performed for measuring the effect of compound on stemness properties. In vivo subcutaneous tumor growth xenograft model and liver metastasis model were performed to test the efficacy of the compound treatment. Student's t test was applied for statistical analysis.

Results: We report the development and characterization of a small molecule inhibitor QW24 against BMI-1. QW24 potently down-regulates BMI-1 protein level through autophagy-lysosome degradation pathway without affecting the BMI-1 mRNA level. Moreover, QW24 significantly inhibits the self-renewal of colorectal CICs in stem-like colorectal Cancer cell lines, resulting in the abrogation of their proliferation and metastasis. Notably, QW24 significantly suppresses the colorectal tumor growth without obvious toxicity in the subcutaneous xenograft model, as well as decreases the tumor metastasis and increases mice survival in the liver metastasis model. Moreover, QW24 exerts a better efficiency than the previously reported BMI-1 inhibitor PTC-209.

Conclusions: Our preclinical data show that QW24 exerts potent anti-tumor activity by down-regulating BMI-1 and abrogating colorectal CICs self-renewal without obvious toxicity in vivo, suggesting that QW24 could potentially be used as an effective therapeutic agent for clinical colorectal Cancer treatment.

Keywords

BMI-1; Cancer stem-like; Colorectal cancer.

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