Authors: Sridhar Chirumarry, Nak-Kyun Soung, Junyeol Han, Eun Young Kim, Eun Kyoung Ryu, Young-Ho Lee, Song Yub Shin, Pethaiah Gunasekaran, Jeong Kyu Bang

Journal: European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2020)

Institution: Korea Basic Science Institute

Research Areas: Cancer research

Cell Lines: MDA-MB-231 (Human mammary carcinoma cell line)

Summary: Having one molecule with multiple action pathways could have a great impact on fighting antibiotic resistance and cancer metastasis. Bacteria and cancer cell membrane surfaces are similar, thus creating an opportunity for a single molecule to act as both antibacterial and anticancer agents by altering membrane tension. In the present work, S. Chirumarry with colleagues have synthesized various small molecules for antibacterial treatment and they hypothesized that their most potent compound ADG-2e may interact with cancer cell surface via electrostatic interaction and reduce the membrane tension and affect cell motility. Authors have performed cytotoxicity and cell migration and invasion studies. By employing HoloMonitor M4 and spatial single-cell tracking, authors have shown, that ADG-2e compound interacts with the cancer cell surface and remarkably decreases cell migration (locomotion) compared to the untreated cells.

Keywords: HoloMonitor M4, Cell motility, Antibacterials, Amphipathic small molecule, Anti-Metastasis, Cell motility, Lamellipodia