Bioorg Chem: study identifying potential prostate cancer anticancer drugs

October 24, 2019 / BIOON / -- cancer researchers at the University of bath used high-throughput screening methods to detect tens of thousands of molecules and found some promising candidate drugs A team from the Department of pharmacology and chemistry is working on a protein racemase called alpha formyl COA (AMACR) as a potential target for cancer treatment AMACR protein levels and activity increased about 10 fold in all prostate cancers Experiments show that reducing the expression level of these proteins will reduce the invasiveness of cancer cells, and their behavior will return to a more normal cell like state Photo source: bioorganic chemistry in this study, the team used a method developed by bath university to test the inhibition effect of more than 20000 drug like molecules on AMACR This method uses a simple discoloration technology, which can quickly evaluate the active compounds and identify new drugs The researchers found that the drugs that effectively inhibit AMACR were different from those previously developed The study was published in the journal Biological Chemistry Dr Matthew Lloyd, lead author of the study, said: "although previously found drugs are very effective in laboratory tests, they are actually very difficult to treat because their properties do not allow them to be easily distributed throughout the body We started this study because we wanted to find drugs that would be easier to treat Although the specific compounds found in this study are not very effective in killing prostate cancer cells, it is hopeful to find molecules similar to drugs "The study was funded by the British prostate cancer foundation and supported by the Movember foundation as part of their development of new treatments for prostate cancer A large part of the study was completed by first author yoana Petrova in the summer of 2015, when she was an undergraduate in pharmacy at Bath University This is part of the summer student program of the biochemical society Yoana graduated from pharmacology in the summer of 2016 and is currently pursuing a doctorate Simon grievson, head of research funding at the UK Prostate Cancer Institute, said: "in the UK, one person dies of prostate cancer every 45 minutes, so there is an urgent need to develop effective new drugs to treat the disease, which is why this research is so important, we should continue to carry out such research AMACR has been shown to be abundant in invasive prostate cancer cells, and the team has successfully developed a technique to detect and monitor the activity of the protein In addition, they have now found some compounds in the laboratory that can target the activity of this protein and prevent the growth of cancer cells This research is still in its infancy, and it is still a long way from clinical research, but there is no doubt that it is hopeful We are looking forward to seeing the progress of this research in the next few years "Prostate cancer is the most common male specific cancer in the UK, with 47151 newly diagnosed patients in 2015 and 11287 deaths in 2014 Prostate cancer accounted for 26% of all male cancer diagnoses, and one eighth of them were diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime Although 84% of male patients can survive for at least 10 years, there is an urgent need for new treatments, especially for those diagnosed with more serious diseases Reference materials: yoana D Petrova et al, identification of new small mobile investors of α - methylacyl COA racemase (AMACR; P504S) and structure activity relationships, bioorganic chemistry (2019) Doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2019.103264