%0 Journal Article
%T Spermine oxidase (SMO) activity in breast tumor tissues and biochemical analysis of the anticancer spermine analogues BENSpm and CPENSpm
%A Manuela Cervelli
%A Gabriella Bellavia
%A Emiliano Fratini
%A Roberto Amendola
%A Fabio Polticelli
%A Marco Barba
%A Rodolfo Federico
%A Fabrizio Signore
%A Giacomo Gucciardo
%A Rosalba Grillo
%A Patrick M Woster
%A Robert A Casero
%A Paolo Mariottini
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-10-555
%X BC tissue samples were analyzed for SMO transcript level and SMO activity. Student's t test was applied to evaluate the significance of the differences in value observed in T and NT samples. The structure modeling analysis of BENSpm and CPENSpm complexes formed with the SMO enzyme and their inhibitory activity, assayed by in vitro experiments, were examined.Both the expression level of SMO mRNA and SMO enzyme activity were significantly lower in BC samples compared to NT samples. The modeling of BENSpm and CPENSpm complexes formed with SMO and their inhibition properties showed that both were good inhibitors.This study shows that underexpression of SMO is a negative marker in BC. The SMO induction is a remarkable chemotherapeutical target. The BENSpm and CPENSpm are efficient SMO inhibitors. The inhibition properties shown by these analogues could explain their poor positive outcomes in Phases I and II of clinical trials.Breast cancer (BC) is a common disease that generally occurs in women over the age of 50, and the risk is especially high for women over age 60. Patients who undergo curative surgery may develop metastasis during follow-up, and the side effects of cancer treatment depend mainly on the type and extent of the treatment. One of the major therapeutic problems is that tumors initially responsive to chemotherapeutic approaches can progress to more aggressive forms poorly responsive to therapies. The need for antineoplastic compounds with novel mechanisms of action is therefore of high social impact. The polyamines (PA) are polycations essential for cell growth and differentiation [1]. In BC cells, proliferative signals transduced by estradiol and growth factors are modulated by PA, by the induction of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) [2,3]. Increased PA levels are often associated with malignant transformation and maintenance of the neoplastic phenotype [4]. Cells finely regulate PA concentrations by de novo synthesis from amino acid precursors and PA uptake
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/555