Analogs of a natural peptaibol exert anticancer activity in both cisplatin-and doxorubicin-resistant cells and in multicellular tumor spheroids

Peptaibols, by disturbing the permeability of phospholipid membranes, can overcome anticancer drug resistance, but their natural hydrophobicity hampers their administration. By a green peptide synthesis protocol, we produced two water-soluble analogs of the peptaibol trichogin GA IV, termed K6-Lol and K6-NH2. To reduce production costs, we successfully explored the possibility of changing the naturally occurring 1,2-aminoalcohol leucinol to a C-terminal amide. Peptaibol activity was evaluated in ovarian cancer (OvCa) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) cell lines. Peptaibols exerted comparable cytotoxic effects in cancer cell lines that were sensitive—and had acquired resistance—to cisplatin and doxorubicin, as well as in the extrinsic-drug-resistant OvCa 3-dimensional spheroids. Peptaibols, rapidly taken up by tumor cells, deeply penetrated and killed OvCa-spheroids. They led to cell membrane permeabilization and phosphatidylserine exposure and were taken up faster by cancer cells than normal cells. They were resistant to proteolysis and maintained a stable helical structure in the presence of cancer cells. In conclusion, these promising results strongly point out the need for further preclinical evaluation of our peptaibols as new anticancer agents.