Claudia Cerella

Cardiac glycosides: From molecular targets to immunogenic cell death

Published in Biochemical Pharmacology

Cardiac glycosides (CGs) are approved for the treatment of cardiovascular alterations and their known cellular target is the alpha subunit of the sodium (Na+)/potassium (K+)-ATPase (NKA). Pharmacologically, they represent a well-known generation of drugs for treating cardiovascular problems, thus allowing the investigation of potential dose-depende...

Non-canonical programmed cell death mechanisms triggered by natural compounds

Published in Seminars in Cancer Biology

Natural compounds are the fundament of pharmacological treatments and more than 50% of all anticancer drugs are of natural origins or at least derived from scaffolds present in Nature. Over the last 25 years, molecular mechanisms triggered by natural anticancer compounds were investigated. Emerging research showed that molecules of natural origins ...

Garlic-derived natural polysulfanes as hydrogen sulfide donors: Friend or foe?

Published in Food and Chemical Toxicology

In vitro and in vivo studies reported the anti-cancer potential of organosulfur compounds (OSCs) as they trigger biological effects leading to cell cycle arrest with accumulation of cells in G2/M, alteration of the microtubular network, modulation of Bcl-2 family protein expression patterns and changes of the redox status. Despite these well-descri...

Cell type-dependent ROS and mitophagy response leads to apoptosis or necroptosis in neuroblastoma

Published in Oncogene

A limiting factor in the therapeutic outcome of children with high-risk neuroblastoma is the intrinsic and acquired resistance to common chemotherapeutic treatments. Here we investigated the molecular mechanisms by which the hemisynthetic cardiac glycoside UNBS1450 overcomes this limitation and induces differential cell death modalities in both neu...

Effects of Natural Products on Mcl-1 Expression and Function

Published in Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

Cancer development is mostly due to a deregulation of cell death as cancer cells become resistant to apoptosis by increasing expression of anti-apoptotic proteins belonging to the Bcl-2 family. Mcl-1 is one anti-apoptotic protein, which is mainly responsible for cancer cell resistance as it is overexpressed by most cancer cell types. Many research ...

Antagonistic role of natural compounds in mTOR-mediated metabolic reprogramming

Published in Cancer Letters

Cells reprogram their metabolism very early during carcinogenesis; this event is critical for the establishment of other cancer hallmarks. Many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes control metabolism by interplaying with the existing nutrient-sensing intracellular pathways. Mammalian target of rapamycin, mTOR, is emerging as a collector and sorter ...

Modulatory roles of glycolytic enzymes in cell death

Published in Biochemical Pharmacology

Cancer cells depend on an altered energy metabolism characterized by increased rates of both glycolysis and glutaminolysis. Accordingly, corresponding key metabolic enzymes are overexpressed or hyperactivated. As a result, this newly acquired metabolic profile determines most other cancer hallmarks including resistance to cell death. Recent finding...

From nature to bedside: Pro-survival and cell death mechanisms as therapeutic targets in cancer treatment

Published in Biotechnology Advances

Energy restriction mimetic agents to target cancer cells: Comparison between 2-deoxyglucose and thiazolidinediones

Published in Biochemical Pharmacology

The use of energy restriction mimetic agents (ERMAs) to selectively target cancer cells addicted to glycolysis could be a promising therapeutic approach. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are synthetic agonists of the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ that were developed to treat type II diabetes. These compounds also disp...

Plumbagin Modulates Leukemia Cell Redox Status

Published in Molecules

Plumbagin is a plant naphtoquinone exerting anti-cancer properties including apoptotic cell death induction and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The aim of this study was to elucidate parameters explaining the differential leukemia cell sensitivity towards this compound. Among several leukemia cell lines, U937 monocytic leukemia cells a...

Celecoxib prevents curcumin-induced apoptosis in a hematopoietic cancer cell model

Published in Molecular Carcinogenesis

Molecules targeting pro-inflammatory pathways have demonstrated beneficial effects in cancer treatment. More recently, combination of natural and synthetic anti-inflammatory drugs was suggested as an appealing strategy to inhibit tumor growth. Herein, we show that curcumin, a polyphenol from Curcuma longa and celecoxib induce apoptosis in hematopoi...

Synthetic polysulfane derivatives induce cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death in human hematopoietic cancer cells

Published in Food and Chemical Toxicology

Natural polysulfanes including diallyltrisulfide (DATS) and diallyltetrasulfide (DATTS) from garlic possess antimicrobial, chemopreventive and anticancer properties. However these compounds exhibit chemical instability and reduced solubility, which prevents their potential clinical applicability. We synthetized six DATS and DATTS derivatives, based...

PPARγ-inactive Δ2-troglitazone independently triggers ER stress and apoptosis in breast cancer cells

Published in Molecular Carcinogenesis

Our aim was to better understand peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ)-independent pathways involved in anti-cancer effects of thiazolidinediones (TZDs). We focused on Δ2-troglitazone (Δ2-TGZ), a PPARγ inactive TZD that affects breast cancer cell viability. Appearance of TUNEL positive cells, changes in mitochondrial membrane pot...

A novel coumarin-quinone derivative SV37 inhibits CDC25 phosphatases, impairs proliferation, and induces cell death

Published in Molecular Carcinogenesis

Cell division cycle (CDC) 25 proteins are key phosphatases regulating cell cycle transition and proliferation by regulating CDK/cyclin complexes. Overexpression of these enzymes is frequently observed in cancer and is related to aggressiveness, high-grade tumors and poor prognosis. Thus, targeting CDC25 by compounds, able to inhibit their activity,...

Styryl-lactone goniothalamin inhibits TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation

Published in Food and Chemical Toxicology

(R)-(+)-Goniothalamin (GTN), a styryl-lactone isolated from the medicinal plant Goniothalamus macrophyllus, exhibits pharmacological activities including cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, GTN modulated TNF-α induced NF-κB activation. GTN concentrations up to 20 μM showed low cytotoxic effects in K562 chronic myelogenous leukem...