P. Poyet et al., EFFECT OF AN ARYL CHLOROETHYL UREA ON TUBULIN AND VIMENTIN SYNTHESES IN A HUMAN BREAST-CANCER CELL-LINE, Anticancer research, 13(5A), 1993, pp. 1447-1452
A new class of antineoplastic agents, 1 - aryl - 3 - (2 - chloroethyl)
ureas (CEUs), was recently developed in our laboratory. To optimize t
he pharmacological and the biological properties of this new class of
compounds and to determine its mechanism of action, at the cellular le
vel, we studied the effect of 4 - tert - butyl - [3 - (2 - chloroethyl
) ureido] benzene (tBCEU) on MDA - MB - 231, a human breast cancer hor
mone - independent cell line. The effect of tBCEU on protein synthesis
and on the accumulation of specific mRNAs was evaluated. The results
indicate that tBCEU increases the synthesis of at least two proteins p
resent in the cytoskeleton: tubulin and vimentin. The effect of tBCEU
on their transcripts indicates that tBCEU decreases the accumulation o
f tubulin and vimentin mRNA. These results suggest that the antineopla
stic activity of tBCEU is in part related to an alteration in the synt
hesis pathway of tubulin and vimentin.