Materials
5-Methylphenazinium Methyl Sulfate (PMS), Penicillin-Streptomycin Solution (×100) (combination of 10,000 U/ml penicillin and 10,000 μg/ml streptomycin), 0.25w/v% Trypsin-1mmol/L EDTA・4Na Solution (Trypsin-EDTA solution), ATRA, and RPMI-1640 were purchased from FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation (Osaka, Japan). Fetal bovine serum (FBS) was obtained from Nichirei Biosciences (Tokyo, Japan). Hoechst 33342 and Cell Counting Kit-8 (WST-8 assay kit) were purchased from Dojindo Laboratories (Kumamoto, Japan). 2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT), LY 294002 and PD 98059 were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (MO, USA), SP 600125 and Tyrphostin AG 490 (Tyr AG 490) were obtained from Tokyo Chemical Industry (Tokyo, Japan). SB 203580 (Cat. # 559389) was purchased from Merck. Boc-D-FMK was obtained from ChemScene (NJ, USA). Each Caspases-8, 9, 3, and 12 fluorometric assay kit was purchased from BioVision (Milpitas, CA, USA). Annexin V FITC Assay Kit was purchased from Cayman Chemical (Ann Arbor, MI, USA). PE anti-mouse/human CD-11b and PE Rat IgG2b, κ Isotype Ctrl antibodies were purchased from BioLegend (San Diego, CA, USA).
Synthesis of novel 2-methylthio DPs
Following the literature procedures[29, 30], DP03 and DP09 were prepared. The synthetic procedure for other DPs was shown in Supplementary data.
Culture and treatment
NB4 cells, a human APL cell line with t(15;17), were obtained from Deutsche Sammalung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (Braunschweig, Germany). HL-60 cells, a human cell line derived from promyelocytic leukemia cells, were obtained from the RIKEN BRC through the National Bio-Resource Project of the MEXT (Resource No. RBRC-RCB3683, Tsukuba, Japan). Their cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated FBS and 1% Penicillin-Streptomycin Solution (×100) at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere (5% CO2 in air).
NB4 or HL-60 cells were seeded at a density of 1×105 cells/mL and treated with 0.5% DMSO as a vehicle, various concentrations (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10, 25, or 50 μM, respectively) of 19 types of 2-methylthio DPs or 1 μM ATRA for 96 h at the most. Furthermore, NB4 cells were treated with 10 or 20 μM Boc-D-FMK, 1 μM SP 600125, 1 μM PD 98059, 10 μM SB 203580, 1 μM LY 294002, and 5 μM Tyr AG 490, respectively, at the indicated concentrations for 1 h prior to treatment with 10 μM DP03 in the presence or absence of these reagents.
Cell viability assay
Cytotoxicity of 2-methylthio DPs against NB4 or HL-60 cells was measured by XTT assay as described previously[20] or WST-8 assay kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, XTT/PMS mixed solution (1.5 mM XTT and 0.025 mM PMS in PBS) or WST-8 solution of a quarter or a tenth of the medium in well was added followed by incubation at 37 °C for 4 h or 1 h. Next, the plate was mixed on a mechanical plate shaker, and absorbance at 450 nm was measured with a microplate reader, SpectraMax Pro M5e (Molecular Devices, USA). Cell viability was calculated using the following equation:
where A450 sample denotes each analog. The IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) values were calculated using the software, GraphPad Prism Ver 8.4.3 (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA).
Differentiation analysis
Differentiated induction was confirmed by the expression of CD11b, a cell surface marker in Myeloid maturation[22]. After each culture supernatant was collected, the adhesion cells were washed twice with PBS. To detach adhesion cells, 3 mL of Trypsin-EDTA solution was added and incubated at 37 °C for 2 min followed by adding 3 mL medium, and the adhesion cells were collected in each culture supernatant. 1×106 cells were washed twice with cell staining buffer (140 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 10 mM Na2HPO4, 1.8 mM KH2PO4, 14 mM sodium azide, and 2% heat-inactivated FBS), and stained with 5 μg/mL PE anti-mouse/human CD11b antibody or it’s isotype ctrl antibody for 1 h at room temperature in the dark. Cells were then washed twice with cell staining buffer and measured by a flow cytometer (FCM), CytoFLEX S (Beckman Coulter, CA, USA), with an acquisition of 10,000 events using CytExpert Ver 2.4.0.28 software (Beckman Coulter, CA, USA). The data were analyzed by Kaluza 2.1 software (Beckman Coulter, CA, USA).
Cell cycle analysis
Cell cycle analysis was performed using the CytoFLEX S FCM according to the methods previously described with slight modifications [17]. Briefly, cells were washed twice with cold PBS, fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde/PBS on ice for 30 min, washed twice again with cold PBS, permeabilized in 70% (v/v) cold ethanol, and kept at –20°C for at least 4 h. They were then washed twice with cold PBS after centrifugation (430×g for 5 min at 4°C) and cells were resuspended in 1 mL of 4 µg/mL of Hoechst 33342/PBS and incubated for 30 min in the dark at room temperature. Finally, they were measured by CytoFLEX S flow cytometer. A total of 10,000 events were acquired using CytExpert software. Kaluza Analysis 2.1 software was used to calculate the number of cells at G0/G1, S, and G2/M phase fractions, respectively.
Apoptosis/Necrosis analysis
The Annexin V FITC Assay Kit was used for the detection of apoptotic or necrotic cells according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In brief, 5×105 cells were washed with 200 μL of Cell-Based Assay Annexin V Binding Buffer, and 50 μL of the Cell-Base Propidium Iodide and Cell-Base Annexin V FITC combination solution in the Binding Buffer for 10 min at room temperature in the dark. After 150 μL of the Binding Buffer was added, fluorescence intensities of PI and FITC were measured by CytoFLEX S flow cytometer. A total of 10,000 events were acquired using CytExpert software and the data were analyzed by Kaluza Analysis 2.1 software.
Measurement of caspases activity
The activity of caspase-8, -9, -12, and -3 was measured using the caspases fluorometric assay kit according to the method described previously[17, 25]. Briefly, a protein amount of 25 μg/50 μl was plated on a 96-well plate, followed by the addition of 50 μl of 2×reaction buffer containing 10 mM DTT to each sample, and then 5 μl of 1 mM each caspase substrate (final concentration of 50 μM). After incubation at 37°C for 1 h, the fluorescent intensity (Excitation. 400 nm, Emission. 505 nm) was measured using the SpectraMax Pro M5e microplate reader.
Statistical analysis
All experiments were independently carried out at least three times and shown as the means ± standard deviation (SD). Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 8.4.3 (GraphPad software, CA, USA) and conducted using one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s or Turkey's post hoc test. A probability level of p < 0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference.