The anticancer potency of green tea and its individual components is being intensely investigated, and some cancer patients already self-medicate with this "miracle herb" in hopes of augmenting the anticancer outcome of their chemotherapy. Bortezomib (BZM) is a proteasome inhibitor in clinical use for multiple myeloma. Here, we investigated whether the combination of these compounds would yield increased antitumor efficacy in multiple myeloma and glioblastoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Unexpectedly, we discovered that various green tea constituents, in particular (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and other polyphenols with 1,2-benzenediol moieties, effectively prevented tumor cell death induced by BZM in vitro and in vivo. This pronounced antagonistic function of EGCG was evident only with boronic acid-based proteasome inhibitors (BZM, MG-262, PS-IX), but not with several nonboronic acid proteasome inhibitors (MG-132, PS-I, nelfinavir). EGCG directly reacted with BZM and blocked its proteasome inhibitory function; as a consequence, BZM could not trigger endoplasmic reticulum stress or caspase-7 activation, and did not induce tumor cell death. Taken together, our results indicate that green tea polyphenols may have the potential to negate the therapeutic efficacy of BZM and suggest that consumption of green tea products may be contraindicated during cancer therapy with BZM. (Blood. 2009;113:5927-5937) IntroductionHerbal supplements are commonly perceived as "innocent" or "holistic" and have become hugely popular as unrestrictedly available, over-the-counter, cure-all remedies. Cancer patients in particular may be tempted to self-medicate with such supplements in hopes to delay the progression of their disease and/or reduce the side effects associated with conventional chemotherapy, 1-3 and they may do this unbeknownst to their health care providers. 2,3 One very popular herb is green tea, brewed from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, which appears to be an ideal alternative medicine because it is nontoxic and shown to have cardioprotective, neuroprotective, anti-infective, and antitumoral properties. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Green tea products are also available as highly concentrated extracts, which can be easily accessed by the public at local grocery, pharmacy, and health food stores throughout the United States.Green tea is a heterogeneous product that contains several antioxidant compounds, known as polyphenols. (-)-Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG), (-)-epigallate catechin (EGC), and (-)-epicatechin (EC) are some of the polyphenol compounds found in green tea. 9 EGCG, the most bioactive green tea polyphenol, was demonstrated to be a multipotent chemopreventive and anticancer agent in several animal models, including leukemia, lung, prostate, colon, and breast cancer. 9,[11][12][13][14][15] It was shown to interact with numerous protein targets and to disrupt biologic/biochemical reactions involved in cancer progression. The EGCG compound can vary its chemical conf...

Background: An increasing number of reports is challenging the notion that the antitumor potential of the selective COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib (Celebrex ® ) is mediated primarily via the inhibition of COX-2. We have investigated this issue by applying two different analogs of celecoxib that differentially display COX-2-inhibitory activity: the first analog, called unmethylated celecoxib (UMC), inhibits COX-2 slightly more potently than its parental compound, whereas the second analog, 2,5-dimethyl-celecoxib (DMC), has lost the ability to inhibit COX-2.

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Enzymes that modify the epigenetic status of cells provide attractive targets for therapy in various diseases. The therapeutic development of epigenetic modulators, however, has been largely limited to direct targeting of catalytic active site conserved across multiple members of an enzyme family, which complicates mechanistic studies and drug development. Class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a group of epigenetic enzymes that depends on interaction with Myocyte Enhancer Factor-2 (MEF2) for their recruitment to specific genomic loci. Targeting this interaction presents an alternative approach to inhibiting this class of HDACs. We have used structural and functional approaches to identify and characterize a group of small molecules that indirectly target class IIa HDACs by blocking their interaction with MEF2 on DNA.Weused X-ray crystallography and 19F NMRto show that these compounds directly bind to MEF2. We have also shown that the small molecules blocked the recruitment of class IIa HDACs to MEF2-targeted genes to enhance the expression of those targets. These compounds can be used as tools to study MEF2 and class IIa HDACs in vivo and as leads for drug development.

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The green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) was reported to effectively antagonize the ability of Bortezomib to induce apoptosis in cancer cells. This interaction was attributed to the formation of a covalent adduct between a phenolic moiety of EGCG with the boronic acid group of Bortezomib. However, the structural details of this boron adduct and the molecular factors that contribute to its formation and its ability to inhibit Bortezomib's activity remain unclear. This paper describes the use of NMR spectroscopy and cell assays to characterize the structures and properties of the boron adducts of EGCG and related polyphenols. The observed boron adducts included both boronate and borate derivatives, and their structural characteristics were correlated with cell-based evaluation of the ability of EGCG and other phenols to antagonize the anticancer activity of Bortezomib. The enhanced stability of the BZM/EGCG adduct was attributed to electronic and steric reasons, and a newly identified intramolecular interaction of the boron atom of BZM with the adjacent amide bond. The reported approach provides a useful method for determining the potential ability of polyphenols to form undesired adducts with boron-based drugs and interfere with their actions.