Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-22-2023

Publication Title

Biomolecules

Keywords

melanoma, drug discovery, spliceosomal inhibition, BRAF, cell line xenograft, organ histopathology

ISSN

2218-273X

Volume

13

Issue/No.

9

First Page

1276

Abstract

Despite the successes of immunotherapy, melanoma remains one of the deadliest cancers, therefore, the need for innovation remains high. We previously reported anti-melanoma compounds that work by downregulating spliceosomal proteins hnRNPH1 and H2. In a separate study, we reported that these compounds were non-toxic to Balb/C mice at 50 mg/kg suggesting their utility in in vivo studies. In the present study, we aimed to assess the efficacy of these compounds by testing them in A375 cell-line xenograft in nude athymic mice. Animals were randomized into four groups (n = 12/group): 10 mg/kg vemurafenib, and 25 mg/kg 2155-14 and 2155-18 thrice a week for 15 days along with a control group. The results revealed that both 2155-14 and 2155-18 significantly decreased the growth of A375 tumors, which was comparable to vemurafenib. These results were confirmed by tumor volume, weight, and histopathological examination. In conclusion, these results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of targeting spliceosomal proteins hnRNPH1 and H2.

Comments

D.M. and K.S.M.S. designed the study; D.M. obtained funding and wrote the manuscript; S.V. performed animal protocol, histology, and immunostaining, and co-wrote the manuscript; J.Z. performed histopathological evaluation of tumors and co-wrote the manuscript; J.L. and K.P. performed immunofluorescence studies; M.S., B.C., T.S. and S.D. performed animal protocol; J.Y.C. co-wrote the manuscript; A.S. and R.S. synthesized and characterized the compounds for the study. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ORCID ID

0000-0003-1089-9307, 0000-0001-8218-6440

DOI

10.3390/ biom13091276

Peer Reviewed

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