Anticancer activity of Pyrithione Zinc in oral cancer cells identified in small molecule screens and xenograft model: Implications for oral cancer therapy

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients diagnosed in late stages have limited chemotherapeutic options, underscoring the great need for development of new anticancer agents for more effective disease management. We aimed to identify novel anticancer agents for OSCC using quantitative high throughput assays for screening six chemical libraries consisting of 5170 small molecule inhibitors. In depth characterization resulted in identification of pyrithione zinc (PYZ) as the most effective cytotoxic agent inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in OSCC cells in vitro.

Source: Molecular Oncology - May 20, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Gunjan Srivastava, Ajay Matta, Guodong Fu, Raj Thani Somasundaram, Alessandro Datti, Paul G. Walfish, Ranju Ralhan Source Type: research