Ashanti Sallee

Ashanti Sallee

“Enzyme-Instructed Self-Assembly for Inhibiting Prostate Cancer”

Ashanti Sallee, Zhaoqianqi Feng, Bing Xu
Hampton University / Chemistry — Forensic Concentration
Hosted by Xu's Lab

Abstract

Prostate Cancer is the most common cancer in males and it is commonly treated with hormone therapy. Each year, it is reported that nearly 25,000 men develop Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer (AIPC) which is resistant to hormone therapy. Enzyme-Instructed Self Assembly (EISA) shows promise as an alternative treatment method for AIPC. EISA uses specific enzymes that are overexpressed in cancer cells to induce the self-assembly of a peptide into a three-dimensional structure that can selectively inhibit cancer cells.

In this research, two peptides, Nap-F-F-Y-EP and Nap-F-F-EP, were created using Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis. Because alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is an enzyme that is overexpressed by AIPC cells, the two compounds were exposed to ALP to test their ability to self-assemble and inhibit various cancer cells. The weak SLS signals for Nap-F-F-EP suggest that this compound showed little assemblies when introduced to ALP. However, TEM imaging and SLS support that Nap-F-F-Y-EP formed many assemblies when introduced to ALP. Also, the IC50 value for Nap-F-F-Y-EP for AIPC cells is low. This indicates that this compound is a competitive candidate for killing prostate cancer cells without the use of hormone therapy. Future work includes tracking the distribution of the compounds in cells and optimizing the structure to increase its efficacy.

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MRSEC REU