No abstract

The vast majority of commodity materials are obtained from petrochemical feedstocks. These resources will plausibly be depleted within the next 100 years, and the peak in global oil production is estimated to occur within the next few decades. In this regard, biomass represents an abundant carbon-neutral renewable resource for the production of polymers. Here we report a new strategy, based on tandem catalysis, to obtain renewable materials. Commercially available complexes are found to be efficient catalysts for alternating polyesters from the cyclization of dicarboxylic acids followed by alternating copolymerization of the resulting anhydrides with epoxides. This operationally simple method is an attractive strategy for the production of new biodegradable polyesters.

SUMMARY Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPis) are clinically effective predominantly for BRCA-mutant tumors. We introduce a mechanism-based strategy to enhance PARPi efficacy based on DNA damage-related binding between DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and PARP1. In AML and breast cancer cells, DNMT inhibitors (DNMTis) alone covalently bind DNMTs into DNA and increase PARP1 tightly bound into chromatin. Low doses of DNMTis plus PARPis, versus each drug alone, increase PARPi efficacy, increasing amplitude and retention of PARP1 directly at laser-induced DNA damage sites. This correlates with increased DNA damage, synergistic tumor cytotoxicity, blunting of self-renewal and strong anti-tumor responses in unfavorable AML subtypes and BRCA wild-type breast cancer cells. Our combinatorial approach introduces a strategy to enhance efficacy of PARPis in treating cancer.

We report here a unique example of an in situ generated aluminum initiator stabilized by a C-symmetric salen ligand which shows a hitherto unknown high activity for the ROP of rac-lactide at room temperature. Using a simple and robust catalyst system, which is prepared from a salen complex and an onium salt, this convenient route employs readily available reagents that afford polylactide in good yields with narrow polydispersity indices, without the need for time-consuming and expensive processes that are typically required for catalyst preparation and purification. In line with the experimental evidence, DFT studies reveal that initiation and propagation proceed via an external alkoxide attack on the coordinated monomer.

Resistance to imatinib (IM) and other BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI)s is an increasing problem in leukemias caused by expression of BCR-ABL1. Since chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cell lines expressing BCR-ABL1 utilize an alternative non-homologous end-joining pathway (ALT NHEJ) to repair DNA double strand breaks (DSB)s, we asked whether this repair pathway is a novel therapeutic target in TKI-resistant disease. Notably, the steady state levels of two ALT NHEJ proteins, poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) and DNA ligase IIIα were increased in the BCR-ABL1-positive CML cell line K562 and, to a greater extent, in its imatinib resistant (IMR) derivative. Incubation of these cell lines with a combination of DNA ligase and PARP inhibitors inhibited ALT NHEJ and selectively decreased survival with the effect being greater in the IMR derivative. Similar results were obtained with TKI-resistant derivatives of two hematopoietic cell lines that had been engineered to stably express BCR-ABL1. Together our results show that the sensitivity of cell lines expressing BCR-ABL1 to the combination of DNA ligase and PARP inhibitors correlates with the steady state levels of PARP1 and DNA ligase IIIα, and ALT NHEJ activity. Importantly, analysis of clinical samples from CML patients confirmed that the expression levels of PARP1 and DNA ligase IIIα correlated with sensitivity to the DNA repair inhibitor combination. Thus, the expression levels of PARP1 and DNA ligase IIIα serve as biomarkers to identify a subgroup of CML patients who may be candidates for therapies that target the ALT NHEJ pathway when treatment with TKIs has failed.

Although hereditary breast cancers have defects in the DNA damage response that result in genomic instability, DNA repair abnormalities in sporadic breast cancers have not been extensively characterized. Recently we showed that, relative to non-tumorigenic breast epithelial MCF10A cells, estrogen receptor- and progesterone receptor-positive (ER/PR+) MCF7 breast cancer cells have reduced steady state levels of DNA ligase IV, a component of the major DNA-PK dependent non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway, whereas the steady state level of DNA ligase IIIα, a component of the highly error-prone alternative NHEJ (ALT NHEJ) pathway, is increased. Here we show that tamoxifen- and aromatase-resistant derivatives of MCF7 cells and ER/PR- cells have even higher steady state levels of DNA ligase IIIα and increased levels of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP1), another ALT NHEJ component. This results in increased dependence upon microhomology-mediated ALT NHEJ to repair DNA double strand breaks (DSB)s and the accumulation of chromosomal deletions. Notably, therapy-resistant derivatives of MCF7 cells and ER/PR- cells exhibited significantly increased sensitivity to a combination of PARP and DNA ligase III inhibitors that increased the number of DSBs. Biopsies from ER/PR- tumors had elevated levels of ALT NHEJ and reduced levels of DNA-PK-dependent NHEJ factors. Thus, our results show that ALT NHEJ is a novel therapeutic target in breast cancers that are resistant to frontline therapies and suggest that changes in NHEJ protein levels may serve as biomarkers to identify tumors that are candidates for this therapeutic approach.

Manganese-corrole complexes in combination with a co-catalyst [PPN]X ([PPN](+)=bis(triphenylphosphoranylidene)iminium) were found to be new versatile catalysts for the polymerization of epoxides, copolymerization of epoxides with CO2, and copolymerization of epoxides with cyclic anhydrides affording a wide range of polymeric materials. This work should allow the synthesis of new types of improved innovative (co)polymers with original properties and would clearly increase the number of applications for polyesters, polycarbonates, and polyethers.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) induce acetylation of histone and non-histone proteins, and modulate the acetylation of proteins involved in DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair. Non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) is one of the main pathways for repairing DSBs. Decreased NHEJ activity has been reported with HDACi treatment. However, mechanisms through which these effects are regulated in the context of chromatin are unclear. We show that pan-HDACi, trichostatin A (TSA), causes differential acetylation of DNA repair factors Ku70/Ku80 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase-1 (PARP1), and impairs NHEJ. Repair effects are reversed by treatments with p300/CBP inhibitor C646, with significantly decreased acetylation of PARP1. In keeping with these findings, TSA treatment significantly increases PARP1 binding to DSBs in chromatin. Notably, AML patients treated with HDACi entinostat (MS275) in vivo also show increased formation of poly ADP-ribose (PAR) that co-localizes with DSBs. Further, we demonstrate that PARP1 bound to chromatin increases with duration of TSA exposure, resembling PARP “trapping”. Knockdown of PARP1 inhibits trapping and mitigates HDACi effects on NHEJ. Finally, combination of HDACi with potent PARP inhibitor talazoparib (BMN673) shows a dose-dependent increase in PARP “trapping”, which correlates with increased apoptosis. These results provide a mechanism through which HDACi inhibits deacetylation and increases binding of PARP1 to DSBs, leading to decreased NHEJ and cytotoxicity of leukemia cells.