Background: Autophagy is generally defined as a lysosome-dependent mechanism that degrades cytosolic proteins and organelles at the basal level. Recent studies focused on developing autophagy inhibitors for cancer treatment. Some antihistamines exhibited significant antitumor activity alone or in combination with other therapies in in vitro and clinical studies. However, the underlying mechanisms of how antihistamines inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma proliferation are still unknown. Methods: Two human hepatoma cells were used to examine the effects of 12 benzocycloheptene structural-analogue drugs on the cytotoxicity and underlying molecular mechanisms. The induction of autophagy marker proteins were analyzed by western blot, and the formation of autophagosomes and the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes were investigated by immunofluorescence staining. The in vivo anti-cancer activity of drug was evaluated by xenograft nude mice model.Results: We first screened the antiproliferation activity of 12 benzocycloheptene structural-analogue drugs, and results showed that deptropine was the most potent inhibitor of both Hep3B and HepG2 human hepatoma cells. Deptropine significantly increased light chain 3B-II (LC3B-II) expression, but did not induce sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/p62) degradation in either cell line. Interestingly, other autophagy-related proteins, such as autophagy-related 7 (ATG7), vacuolar protein sorting 34 (VPS34), phosphorylated adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and phosphorylated Akt, exhibited no significant change in either deptropine-treated cell line. Deptropine also inhibited the processing of cathepsin L from its precursor form to its mature form. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed an increase of autophagosomes in deptropine-treated cells, but deptropine interfered with the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. In a xenograft nude mice model, 2.5 mg/kg deptropine showed a great inhibitory effect on Hep3B tumor growth. Conclusion: These results suggest that deptropine can induce hepatoma cell death in vitro and in vivo, and the underlying mechanisms might be mediated through inhibiting autophagy by blocking autophagosome-lysosome fusion.
Calcium pyrophosphate (CPP) deposition disease (CPPD) is a form of CPP crystal-induced arthritis. A high concentration of extracellular pyrophosphate (ePPi) in synovial fluid is positively correlated with the formation of CPP crystals, and ePPi can be upregulated by ankylosis human (ANKH) and ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase 1 (ENPP1) and downregulated by tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP). However, there is currently no drug that eliminates CPP crystals. We explored the effects of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors (HDACis) trichostatin A (TSA) and vorinostat (SAHA) on CPP formation. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-treated human primary cultured articular chondrocytes (HC-a cells) were used to increase ePPi and CPP formation, which were determined by pyrophosphate assay and CPP crystal staining assay, respectively. Artificial substrates thymidine 5′-monophosphate p-nitrophenyl ester (p-NpTMP) and p-nitrophenyl phosphate (p-NPP) were used to estimate ENPP1 and TNAP activities, respectively. The HDACis TSA and SAHA significantly reduced mRNA and protein expressions of ANKH and ENPP1 but increased TNAP expression in a dose-dependent manner in HC-a cells. Further results demonstrated that TSA and SAHA decreased ENPP1 activity, increased TNAP activity, and limited levels of ePPi and CPP. As expected, both TSA and SAHA significantly increased the acetylation of histones 3 and 4 but failed to block Smad-2 phosphorylation induced by TGF-β1. These results suggest that HDACis prevented the formation of CPP by regulating ANKH, ENPP1, and TNAP expressions and can possibly be developed as a potential drug to treat or prevent CPPD.
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