NATURAL PRODUCTS AND DERIVATIVES WITH ANTITUMORAL ACTIVITY

CAYADO-GUTIÉRREZ; CUELLO-CARRIÓN; GARRO. H. A.; CIFUENTE. D.; PUNGITORE C. R; CIOCCA. D. R.

Villa de Merlo. San Luis.

Congreso; XXXV Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2017

Our laboratory has been involved in the study of HSP27 (HSPB1) in cancer; this protein participates in many events related with cancer progression and resistance to anticancer treatments. We are now exploring ways to interfere with the HSP27 response testing phytochemicals selected from autochthonous plants grown in the semi desert area of Mendoza and San Luis. The study involves breast cancer, cervical cancer and glioma cells exposed to plant extracts and to fully characterized phytochemicals. These were prepared by different approaches including aqueous and ethanol extracts. The HSP27 response has been examined by immunocytochemistry, the cytotoxic effect was studied by the MTT assay and the effect on the cell migration by the wound healing assay. Extracts from 10 plants were initially screened, two showed important effects on the tumor cells: a drastic reduction in the cell number, a blockage of mitosis and important changes in HSP27 protein expression with translocation to the nuclei of the cells (HSP27 phosphorylation). These extracts are in the process of characterization to identify the active compounds. On the other hand, two fully identified compounds (a coumarin and a new labdane diterpene glycoside) were tested and they produced significant changes in HSP27 total content and in phosphorylation protein status, with changes in cellular localization. The survival of the cancer cells was significantly decreased according to the drug concentration and time of exposure.