2019) Micellar curcumin improves the antibacterial activity of the alkylphosphocholines erufosine and miltefosine against pathogenic Staphyloccocusaureus strains, Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment, 33:1,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] ABSTRACT In the light of the emerging bacterial resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics, the search for new antibacterial therapeutics and drug combinations is one of the most challenging topics nowadays. In the present study, we investigated for the first time the antibacterial and biofilm inhibitory effects of the third generation anticancer alkylphosphocholine (APC) erufosine against pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus strains in comparison to the prototype of this pharmacological class of drugs, miltefosine. We also searched for synergistic antibacterial combinations between both APCs and curcumin incorporated in copolymeric micelles based on PluronicV R P123 or a mixture of Pluronic V R P123 and Pluronic V R F127 (P123/F127). The obtained quantitative redoxactivity experimental data and drug-drug interactions were evaluated by using mathematical models in the MAPLE software. Similar to miltefosine, erufosine showed a moderate bacteriostatic effect in clinically relevant concentrations (50 Ä 60 lmol/L) and inhibited the redox activity of the treated bacteria up to 90% at minimal inhibitory concentrations. The effect of both APCs towards methicillin resistant staphylococci was enhanced by combinations with P123/F127 micellar CRM at a ratio of 1:1. Erufosine showed a stronger median biofilm inhibition at lower concentrations (MBIC 50 ¼ 1.87 lmol/L) than miltefosine (MBIC 50 ¼ 6.0 lmol/L) and curcumin (MBIC 50 ¼ 24.84 lmol/L) as demonstrated by quantification of biofilm-bound bacteria. In conclusion, the estimated antibacterial activity of erufosine widens the spectrum of its useful pharmacological effects, which is important for its clinical development. The established synergistic and additive drug combinations could be beneficial for the application of both APCs in cancer therapy, since numerous malignancies are accompanied by bacterial infections. ARTICLE HISTORY

In oncopharmacology, the common procedure to evaluate median-effect concentrations (IC50) on experimental data is based on the use of well-established kinetic models representing inhibition effects of drugs on human cancer cell lines. Several widespread software programs, such as GraphPad Prism and CompuSyn offer possibilities for calculation of IC50 through the model of Chou. In recent study, we analyzed the results from those two software programs and compared them with the non-linear programming procedure written by us in the MAPLE symbolic software. The last evaluated IC50 more precisely and the correlation coefficient R value was better in all trails. We demonstrated the efficiency of non-linear programming procedures in examples of two cancer cell lines treated with three different drugs. The response surface analysis showed the potential of the applied kinetic model. As a result, we were able to define better the IC50 values and to use them in planning further experiments in human cancer cell lines related to single drug influence and drug-drug interference.

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a rare form of cancer with local as well as systemic manifestations. Concomitant bacterial infections increase morbidity and mortality rates due to impaired skin barrier and immune deficiency. In the current study, we demonstrated that the in vitro anti-lymphoma potential of erufosine is diminished by TWIST1 expression and micellar curcumin substantially increases its antineoplastic activity. Pharmacokinetic analysis showed that the micellar curcumin (MCRM) used in our study was characterized by low zeta potential, slow release of curcumin, and fast cell membrane penetration. The combination ratio 1:4 [erufosine:MCRM] achieved strong synergism by inhibiting cell proliferation and clonogenicity. The combined antiproliferative effects were calculated using the symbolic mathematical software MAPLE 15. The synergistic combination strongly decreased the expression of TWIST1 and protein kinase B/Akt as proven by western blotting. Significant reductions in NF-κB activation, induction of apoptosis, and altered glutathione levels were demonstrated by corresponding assays. In addition, the synergistic combination enhanced the anti-staphylococcal activity and prevented biofilm formation, as shown by crystal violet staining. Taken together, the above results show that the development of nanotechnological treatment modalities for CTCL, based on rational drug combinations exhibiting parallel antineoplastic and antibacterial effects, may prove efficacious.