Tesi, 2016, ENG

Molecular Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis: identification of new targets for diagnosis and therapy."

Sara Adanti

UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA "TOR VERGATA" FACOLTA' DI MEDICINA E CHIRURGIA DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN BIOCHIMICA E BIOLOGIA MOLECOLARE

Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein (TCTP) is a survival factor in tumor cells overexpressed in poorly differentiated breast cancer cells. TCTP is a specific target of Dihydroartemisinin (DHA). DHA is a metabolite of Artemisinin, the active principle of Artemisia annua L. DHA is an anti-malaria drug with antitumor properties. We studied the effect of DHA on human breast cancer cell lines (such as MDA-MB-231 and SKBR3 cells) with more aggressive phenotype. Our results show that DHA inhibits breast cancer cells growth and induces apoptosis by reducing the levels of the phosphorylated form of TCTP. We also show that DHA improves the antitumor effect of the conventional chemotherapy drugs, such as Doxorubicin and Trastuzumab. Altogether, these results suggest that phospho-TCTP is a novel therapeutic target for breast cancer cells. DHA in combination with conventional chemotherapeutics is a novel strategy to treat breast cancer.

Keywords

phospho-TCTP, DHA, target therapy, combination therapy.

CNR authors

Adanti Sara, Lucibello Maria

CNR institutes

IFT – Istituto di Farmacologia Traslazionale