Project description:The introduction of novel therapeutic agents has considerably improved the median survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). However, the natural history of the disease is characterized by continuous relapses over time. As a consequence, the development of new drugs is still required to treat MM recurrence. Here, we report for the first time the potent anti-myeloma activity of amiloride, an old potassium-sparing diuretic approved for the treatment of hypertension and edema due to heart failure. Amilorideinduced apoptosis was observed in a broad panel of MM cell lines and in xenograft mouse models. Moreover, amiloride also had a synergistic effect when combined with dexamethasone and melphalan. RNA-seq experiments showed that amiloride not only significantly altered the level of transcript isoforms and alternative splicing events, but also deregulated the spliceosomal machinery. Additionally, disruption of the splicing machinery in immunofluorescence studies was associated with the inhibition of myeloma cell viability after amiloride exposure. Although amiloride was able to induce apoptosis in myeloma cells lacking p53 expression, activation of p53 signaling was observed in wild-type and mutated TP53 cells after amiloride exposure. On the other hand, the manageable toxicity profile of amiloride is well known and we did not find a significant systemic toxicity in mice treated with amiloride. Overall, our results provide a mechanistic rationale for the use of amiloride as an alternative treatment option for relapsed MM patients.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Homo sapiens inflammatory skin diseases (whole skin biospies): Psoriasis (Pso), vs Atopic Dermatitis (AD) vs Lichen planus (Li), vs Contact Eczema (KE), vs Healthy control (KO) In recent years, different genes and proteins have been highlighted as potential biomarkers for psoriasis, one of the most common inflammatory skin diseases worldwide. However, most of these markers are not psoriasis-specific but also found in other inflammatory disorders. We performed an unsupervised cluster analysis of gene expression profiles in 150 psoriasis patients and other inflammatory skin diseases (atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, contact eczema, and healthy controls). We identified a cluster of IL-17/TNFα-associated genes specifically expressed in psoriasis, among which IL-36γ was the most outstanding marker. In subsequent immunohistological analyses IL-36γ was confirmed to be expressed in psoriasis lesions only. IL-36γ peripheral blood serum levels were found to be closely associated with disease activity, and they decreased after anti-TNFα-treatment. Furthermore, IL-36γ immunohistochemistry was found to be a helpful marker in the histological differential diagnosis between psoriasis and eczema in diagnostically challenging cases. These features highlight IL-36γ as a valuable biomarker in psoriasis patients, both for diagnostic purposes and measurement of disease activity during the clinical course. Furthermore, IL-36γ might also provide a future drug target, due to its potential amplifier role in TNFα- and IL-17 pathways in psoriatic skin inflammation. In recent years, different genes and proteins have been highlighted as potential biomarkers for psoriasis, one of the most common inflammatory skin diseases worldwide. However, most of these markers are not psoriasis-specific but also found in other inflammatory disorders. We performed an unsupervised cluster analysis of gene expression profiles in 150 psoriasis patients and other inflammatory skin diseases (atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, contact eczema, and healthy controls). We identified a cluster of IL-17/TNFα-associated genes specifically expressed in psoriasis, among which IL-36γ was the most outstanding marker. In subsequent immunohistological analyses IL-36γ was confirmed to be expressed in psoriasis lesions only. IL-36γ peripheral blood serum levels were found to be closely associated with disease activity, and they decreased after anti-TNFα-treatment. Furthermore, IL-36γ immunohistochemistry was found to be a helpful marker in the histological differential diagnosis between psoriasis and eczema in diagnostically challenging cases. These features highlight IL-36γ as a valuable biomarker in psoriasis patients, both for diagnostic purposes and measurement of disease activity during the clinical course. Furthermore, IL-36γ might also provide a future drug target, due to its potential amplifier role in TNFα- and IL-17 pathways in psoriatic skin inflammation.
Project description:Background: Cancer cachexia (CAC) reduces patient survival and quality of life. Developments of efficient therapeutic strategies are required for the CAC treatments. This long-term process could be shortened by the drug-repositioning approach which exploits old drugs approved for non-cachexia disease. Amiloride, a diuretic drug, is clinically used for treatments of hypertension and edema due to heart failure. Here, we explored the effects of amiloride for ameliorating muscle wasting in murine models of cancer cachexia. Methods: CT26 and LLC tumor cells were subcutaneously injected into mice to induce cancer cachexia. Amiloride was intraperitoneally injected daily once tumors were formed. Cachexia features of the CT26 and LLC models, respectively, were characterized by phenotypic, histopathologic and biochemical analyses. Plasma exosomes and muscle atrophy-related proteins were quantitatively analyzed. Integrative NMR-based metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses were conducted to identify significantly altered metabolic pathways and distinctly changed metabolism-related biological processes in gastrocnemius. Results: The CT26 and LLC models displayed prominent cachexia features including decreases in body weight, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and muscle strength. The amiloride treatment in tumor-bearing mice distinctly alleviated muscle atrophy and relieved cachexia-related features without affecting tumor growth. The CT26 and LLC cachexia mice showed increased particle density of plasma exosomes which were largely derived from tumors. Significantly, the amiloride treatment inhibited tumor-derived exosome release, which did not obviously affect exosome secretion from non-neoplastic tissues or induce observable systemic toxicities in normal healthy mice. Integrative-omics revealed significant metabolic impairments in cachectic gastrocnemius, including promoted muscular catabolism, inhibited muscular protein synthesis, blocked glycolysis and impeded ketone body oxidation. The amiloride treatment evidently improved the metabolic impairments in cachectic gastrocnemius. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the efficacy of amiloride in ameliorating cachectic muscle wasting and elucidated the underlying mechanistic rationale for its use as an alternative strategy to improve CAC treatments.