Curr Colorectal Cancer Rep. 2013 Dec;9(4):350-357. doi: 10.1007/s11888-013-0190-5.
Current colorectal cancer reports
Sandeep Sreevalsan, Stephen Safe
PMID: 25584043 PMCID: PMC4288935 DOI: 10.1007/s11888-013-0190-5
Several agents used for treatment of colon and other cancers induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and this plays an important role in their anticancer activities. In addition to the well-known proapoptotic effects of ROS inducers, these compounds also decrease expression of specificity protein (Sp) transcription factors Sp1, Sp3 and Sp4 and several pro-oncogenic Spregulated genes important for cancer cell proliferation, survival and metastasis. The mechanism of these responses involve ROS-dependent downregulation of microRNA-27a (miR-27a) or miR-20a (and paralogs) and induction of two Sp-repressors, ZBTB10 and ZBTB4 respectively. This pathway significantly contributes to the anticancer activity of ROS inducers and should be considered in development of drug combinations for cancer chemotherapy.
Keywords: Colon cancer; antioxidants; mechanism based drugs; microRNA; reactive oxygen Species; specificity transcription factors; targeted therapy; zinc finger DNA binding proteins