2018-2019 Grant in Aid of Research
Benzothiazole as a Novel Hybrid Anti-Invasion Agent Against Glioblastoma
Priscilla Kyi
According to the Centers for Disease Control cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. While brain cancer is a rare occurrence, the most common type of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is extremely lethal due to its invasive growth, proliferative nature, and destructive malignancy. Current treatment of GBM involves surgical removal of the tumor, followed by systemic temozolomide chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Despite the aggressive therapies, the median survival period for treated GBM patients is 12-15 months. At present, there is no cure for glioblastoma; however, new therapeutic approaches have been explored. Benzothiazole is among the compounds that have been studied for their potential as therapeutic agents against cancer, whose derivatives have been shown to inhibit proliferation and invasiveness in breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer. However, no published studies have investigated the therapeutic use of benzothiazole derivates on glioblastoma. In the proposed study, I will synthesize novel benzothiazole hybrids to determine the effects of the novel compounds on the growth of GBM cells using cell viability assay. I will document the effect of the novel compounds on level of important invasion proteins (MMP-2, MMP-9, ADAM-12, ADAM-17) and determine the anti-invasion properties of the novel compounds by treating GBM cells with the compounds. If the novel compounds decrease the invasion properties of glioblastoma, they could be studied further as potential therapeutic drugs for glioblastoma.