title: Pentamidine is an inhibitor of PRL phosphatases with anticancer activity.
abstract: The PRL family oncogenic phosphatases are attractive targets for developing inhibitors as anticancer therapeutics given their potentially pathogenic role in human malignancies. Herein we demonstrate that pentamidine, an anti-protozoa drug with an unknown mechanism of action, is an inhibitor of PRLs with anticancer potential. Pentamidine at its therapeutic doses inhibited recombinant PRL phosphatases in vitro and inactivated ectopically expressed PRLs in NIH3T3 transfectants with an effective duration more than 24 h after a pulse cell treatment. The drug had in vitro growth-inhibitory activity against human cancer cell lines that express the endogenous PRLs. Pentamidine at a tolerable dose markedly inhibited the growth of WM9 human melanoma tumors in nude mice coincident with the induction of tumor cell necrosis and is capable of inactivating ectopically expressed PRL-2 in the cancer cells. These observations suggest the potential of pentamidine in anticancer therapies and may provide a basis for developing novel PTPase-targeted therapeutics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Biology, Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Manas K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.forename: Deepika
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dhawan
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lindner
authors.forename: Ernest C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Borden
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Farver
authors.forename: Taolin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yi
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D010419:Pentamidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D010419:Pentamidine; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases