Two 4N Cell-Cycle Arrests Contribute to Cisplatin-Resistance.

Two 4N Cell-Cycle Arrests Contribute to Cisplatin-Resistance.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(4): e59848
Shen H, Perez RE, Davaadelger B, Maki CG

Cisplatin is a platinum-based drug that is used for the treatment of a wide-variety of primary human cancers. However, the therapeutic efficacy of cisplatin is often limited by intrinsic or acquired drug resistance. An important goal, therefore, is to identify mechanisms that lead to cisplatin resistance in cancer, and then use this information to more effectively target resistant cells. Cisplatin-resistant clones of the HCT116 cell line underwent a prolonged G2 arrest after cisplatin treatment while sensitive clones did not. The staurosporine analog UCN-01 abrogated this G2 arrest and sensitized the resistant clones to cisplatin. At later time points, 4N arrested cells assumed a tetraploid G1 state that was characterized by depletion of Cyclin A, Cyclin B, and CDC2, and increased expression of p53 and p21, in 4N cells. siRNA-mediated knockdown of p21 abrogated the tetraploid G1 arrest and induced killing that was dependent on p53. The results identify two targetable 4N arrests that can contribute to cisplatin resistance: First, a prolonged G2 arrest that can be targeted by UCN-01, and second, a tetraploid G1 arrest that can be targeted by siRNA against p21. HubMed – drug

 

Pimozide Inhibits the AcrAB-TolC Efflux Pump in Escherichia coli.

Open Microbiol J. 2013; 7: 83-6
Bohnert JA, Schuster S, Kern WV

Efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) are attractive compounds to reverse multidrug-resistance in clinically relevant bacterial pathogens. In this study we tested the ability of the neuroleptic drug pimozide to inhibit the Escherichia coli AcrAB-TolC efflux pump, whose overproduction confers resistance to various antimicrobial agents. A real-time Nile red efflux assay in the AcrAB – overproducing strain 3-AG100 revealed that pimozide was capable of full inhibition of this pump at a concentration of 100 µM, which is far below its intrinsic MIC (>1mM). However, MIC assay demonstrated very little effect of pimozide with regard to reduction in MICs of various antimicrobial compounds. Only oxacillin MICs were reduced twofold in the presence of pimozide at 100 and 200 µM. Since pimozide did considerably enhance accumulation of ethidium bromide in a fluorescence assay, ethidium bromide MIC assays in the presence and absence of this putative EPI were performed. They revealed that pimozide was able to reduce the MICs of ethidium bromide by 4-fold. In line with previous reports we suggest that the capability of EPIs to restore the susceptibility to antimicrobial agents can be highly substrate-specific due to different substrate binding sites. HubMed – drug

 

Mechanisms of resistance in bacteria: an evolutionary approach.

Open Microbiol J. 2013; 7: 53-8
Martins A, Hunyadi A, Amaral L

Acquisition of resistance is one of the major causes of failure in therapy of bacterial infections. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), thousands of deaths caused by Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus or Mycobacteria tuberculosis are due to failure in therapy caused by resistance to the chemotherapeutic agents. Understanding the mechanisms of resistance acquisition by the bacterial strains is therefore essential to prevent and overcome resistance. However, it is very difficult to extrapolate from in vitro studies, where the variables are far less and under constant control, as compared to what happens in vivo where the chosen chemotherapeutic, its effective dose, and the patient’s immune system are variables that differ substantially case-by-case. The aim of this review is to provide a new perspective on the possible ways by which resistance is acquired by the bacterial strains within the patient, with a special emphasis on the adaptive response of the infecting bacteria to the administered antibiotic. HubMed – drug