Despite recent advances in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), outcome of patients remains poor due to the development of drug resistance. Thus, new drugs are urgently needed. We investigated efficacy, toxicity and mechanism of action of marine triterpene glycoside frondoside A (FrA) using CRPC cell lines in vitro and in vivo. FrA revealed high efficacy in human prostate cancer cells, while non-malignant cells were less sensitive. Remarkably, proliferation and colony formation of cells resistant to enzalutamide and abiraterone (due to the androgen receptor splice variant AR-V7) were also significantly inhibited by FrA. The marine compound caused cell type specific cell cycle arrest and induction of caspase-dependent or -independent apoptosis. Up-regulation or induction of several pro-apoptotic proteins (Bax, Bad, PTEN), cleavage of PARP and caspase-3 and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins (survivin and Bcl-2) were detected in treated cells. Global proteome analysis revealed regulation of proteins involved in formation of metastases, tumor cell invasion, and apoptosis, like keratin 81, CrkII, IL-1b and cathepsin B. Inhibition of pro-survival autophagy was observed following FrA exposure. In vivo, FrA inhibited tumor growth of PC-3 and DU145 cells with a notable reduction of lung metastasis, as well as circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood. Increased lymphocyte counts of treated animals might indicate an immune

Monanchocidin A (MonA) is a novel alkaloid recently isolated from the marine sponge Monanchora pulchra. The compound reveals cytotoxic activity in genitourinary cancers including cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant germ cell tumor (GCT) cell lines, hormone-sensitive and castration-resistant prostate carcinoma cell lines and different bladder carcinoma cell lines. In contrast, non-malignant cells were significantly less sensitive. MonA is highly synergistic with cisplatin in GCT cells. Induction of autophagy at lower and lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) at higher concentrations were identified as the dominating modes of action. Cytotoxicity and protein degradation could be inhibited by 3-methyladenine, an inhibitor of autophagy. LMP was confirmed by loss of acridine orange staining of lysosoms and by release of cathepsin B. In conclusion, MonA exerts cytotoxiс activity by mechanisms different from “classical” apoptosis, and could be a promising new compound to overcome resistance to standard therapies in genitourinary malignancies.

Purpose-3-Demethylubiquinone Q 2 (1) was isolated from the ascidian Aplidium glabrum. The cancer preventive properties and the structure-activity relationship for 3-demethylubiquinone Q2 (1) and 12 of its synthetic analogues (3-14) are reported.Methods-Compounds 3-14, having one or several di-or triprenyl substitutions and quinone moieties with methoxyls in different positions, were synthesized. The cancer preventive properties of compounds 1 and 3-14 were tested in JB6 Cl41 mouse skin cells, using a variety of assessments, including the MTS assay, flow cytometry, and soft agar assay. Statistical nonparametric methods were used to confirm statistical significance.Results-All quinones tested were shown to inhibit JB6 Cl41 cell transformation, to induce apoptosis, AP-1 and NF-κB activity, and to inhibit p53 activity. The most promising effects were indicated for compounds containing two isoprene units in a side chain and a methoxyl group at the para-position to a polyprenyl substitution.Conclusions-Quinones 1 and 3-14 demonstrated cancer preventive activity in JB6 Cl41 cells, which may be attributed to the induction of p53-independent apoptosis. These activities depended on the length of side chains and on the positions of the methoxyl groups in the quinone part of the molecule.Keywords marine prenylated quinones; cancer prevention; apoptosis; nuclear factor; structure-activity relationship ABBREVIATIONS 3-demethylubiquinone Q2. 2,3-dimethoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyl-octa-2′(E),6′-dienyl)- [1,4] benzoquinone (1); EGF, epidermal growth factor; TPA, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate; FBS, fetal bovine serum; MEM, minimum essential medium

New unusual polycyclic guanidine alkaloids monanchocidins B-E (2-5) along with monanchocidin A (1), which we recently described, were isolated from the Far-Eastern marine sponge Monanchora pulchra. Their structures were established using spectroscopic data and chemical transformations. Compounds 1-5 show potent cytotoxic activities against HL-60 human leukemia cells with IC50 values of 540, 200, 110, 830, and 650 nM, respectively.