Discovery of <em>epi</em>-Enprioline as a Novel Drug for the Treatment of Vincristine Resistant Neuroblastoma

oleh: Wondossen Sime, Mohamed Jemaà, Yasmin Abassi, Vito Alessandro Lasorsa, Julie Bonne Køhler, Karin Hansson, Daniel Bexell, Martin Michaelis, Jindrich Cinatl, Daniel Strand, Mario Capasso, Ramin Massoumi

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-09-01

Deskripsi

Neuroblastoma is a childhood solid tumour originating from undifferentiated neural progenitor cells of the sympathetic nervous system. Drug resistance of childhood cancer neuroblastoma is a serious clinical problem. In the present study, we aimed to identify novel drugs that can inhibit the growth and survival of chemoresistant neuroblastoma. High-throughput screening identified a small molecule, <i>epi</i>-enprioline that was able to induce apoptosis of vincristine-resistant neuroblastoma cells via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. <i>Epi</i>-enprioline reduced tumour growth in multiple preclinical models, including an orthotopic neuroblastoma patient-derived xenograft model in vivo. In summary, our data suggest that <i>epi</i>-enprioline can be considered as a lead compound for the treatment of vincristine-resistant neuroblastoma uncovering a novel strategy, which can be further explored as a treatment for drug-resistant neuroblastoma.