Publications by authors named "D Matesic"

Article Synopsis
  • - Cancer has been a persistent issue throughout history, with significant research advancements made since the launch of the war on cancer in 1972, particularly focusing on the P13K/Akt signaling pathway, which is often overactive in various cancers.
  • - Akt inhibitors, such as ipatasertib and afuresertib, have shown potential in reducing tumor cell growth by targeting this pathway and inhibiting Akt activity, demonstrating cytotoxic effects on cancer cells.
  • - Researchers are also exploring allosteric inhibitors like perifosine, which work differently by affecting Akt's function without directly competing with ATP, while natural products like solenopsin are being developed as new Akt inhibitors through advanced modeling techniques.
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Background/aim: The P13K/Akt signaling pathway is a growth-regulating cellular pathway that is constitutively activated in a variety of human cancers. In previous studies, we reported that a solenopsin analog, compound (MU-06-SC-608-7), shows inhibitory effects on Akt phosphorylation at a key activation site, as well as on proliferation of tumorigenic cells at sub-micromolar concentrations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of compound on downstream effectors of Akt kinase, phosphorylation of Akt at a second activation site, Akt kinase activity in vitro, tumorigenic cell viability and other signaling pathways.

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Chaetoglobosin K (ChK) is a natural product that has been shown to promote F-actin capping, inhibit growth, arrest cell cycle G2 phase, and induce apoptosis. ChK also has been shown to downregulate two important kinases involved in oncogenic pathways, Akt and JNK. This report investigates how ChK is involved in the receptor tyrosine kinase pathway (RTK/PI3K/mTORC2/Akt) to the centrally located protein kinase, Akt.

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The P13K/Akt pathway is a growth-regulating cellular signaling pathway that is over-activated in numerous human cancers. A novel series of Akt pathway inhibitors were identified using iterative pharmacophore modeling, energy-based calculations, and property predictions of known Akt inhibitors. Inhibitory effects on activation of Akt and growth of human neoplastic cells are reported.

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4-Phenyl-3-butenoic acid (PBA) is an inhibitor of peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase with anti-inflammatory properties that has been shown to inhibit the growth of ras-mutated epithelial and human lung carcinoma cells. In this report, we show that PBA also increases the acetylation levels of selected histone subtypes in a dose and time dependent manner, an effect that is attributable to the inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes. Comparison studies with the known HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) using high resolution two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels and Western analysis provide evidence that PBA acts as an HDAC inhibitor within cells.

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