A series of novel marinopyrroles with sulfide and sulphone spacers were designed and synthesized. Their activity to disrupt the binding of the pro-apoptotic protein, Bim, to the pro-survival proteins, Mcl-1 and Bcl-xL, was evaluated using ELISA assays. Fluorescence-quenching (FQ) assays confirmed the direct binding of marinopyrroles to Mcl-1. Benzyl- and benzyl methoxy-containing sulfide deriva...

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) control many cellular processes in cancer and tumour growth. Of significant interest is the role PPIs play in regulating apoptosis. The overexpression of the antiapoptosis regulating Bcl-2 family of proteins is commonly observed in several cancers, leading to resistance towards both radiation and chemotherapies. From this family, myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-...

Loss of the Fbw7 tumor suppressor is common in diverse human cancer types, including T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL), although the mechanistic basis of its anti-oncogenic activity remains largely unclear. We recently reported that SCFFbw7 regulates cellular apoptosis by controlling the ubiquitination and destruction of the pro-survival protein, Mcl-1, in a GSK3 phosphorylation-depen...

Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a highly malignant cancer. BTC exhibits a low response rate to cisplatin (CDDP) treatment, and therefore, an understanding of the mechanism of CDDP resistance is urgently needed. Here, we show that BTC cells develop CDDP resistance due, in part, to upregulation of myeloid cell leukemia 1 (Mcl-1). Phenylethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), a natural compound found in water...

Myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) protein is an anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein that plays essential roles in multiple myeloma (MM) survival and drug resistance. In MM, it has been demonstrated that proteasome inhibition can trigger the accumulation of Mcl-1, which has been shown to confer MM cell resistance to bortezomib-induced lethality. However, the mechanisms involved in this unwanted Mc...

The anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1 is highly expressed in various types of malignant tumors. Overexpression is reported to correlate with poor prognosis and disease progression. We report the expression levels of Mcl-1 in tumor samples of the parotid gland. A retrospective study containing 108 patients was performed. A tissue microarray of six malignancies of the parotid gland and pleomorphic ade...

Mcl-1 is a member of the Bcl-2 protein family, which has been shown to delay apoptosis in transfection and/or overexpression experiments. As yet no gene knockout mice have been engineered, and so there is little evidence to show that loss of Mcl-1 expression is sufficient to trigger apoptosis. U937 cells constitutively express the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2; but during differentiation, in resp...

PURPOSE To investigate the molecular mechanism underlying intrinsic resistance to ABT-199. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Western blots and real-time RT-PCR were used to determine levels of Mcl-1 after ABT-199 treatment alone or in combination with cytarabine or daunorubicin. Immunoprecipitation of Bim and Mcl-1 were used to determine the effect of ABT-199 treatment on their interactions with Bcl-2 fami...