Kinase Assay: Promoter-luciferase reporter assay; A 2,767-bp sequence of human survivin gene promoter is isolated from human genomic DNA by PCR using Pyrobest polymerase and the following primers: 5'-GCGCGCTCGAGTCTAGACATGCGGATATATTC-3' and 5'-GCGCGAA-GCTTTGGCGGTTAATGGCGCGC-3'. The resulting PCR fragment is digested with XhoI/HindIII and ligated into the XhoI/HindIII cleavage site of the pGL3-Basic vector. The resulting plasmid is named pSUR-luc. DNA sequencing is done on all amplified sequences by a DNA sequencer. The activity of pSUR-luc is confirmed by luciferase assay with transiently transfected HeLa-S3 cells. Luciferase assay is done. The pGL3 control vector, which contains the SV40 promoter and enhancer sequences, is used. HeLa cells are stably transfected with pSUR-luc and pSV2bsr by Lipofect-AMINE 2000. After blasticidin selection at 10 μg/mL, a single colony is chosen based on appropriate luciferase signals and genetic stability over time and named HeLa-SURP-luc. CHO cells are stably transfected with pGL3-control and pSV2bsr. After blasticidin selection at 10 μg/mL, a single colony is chosen based on appropriate luciferase signals and genetic stability over time and named CHO-SV40-luc. Stocked cells from the HeLa-SURP-luc and CHO-SV40-luc clones are used for chemical screening and characterization of YM155. YM155 in DMSO are added to the cells, which had been seeded the previous day on 96-well plastic plates at 5 × 103 per well. Luciferase activity is measured 24 hours later. IC50 is calculated by logistic analysis.

Cell Assay: Hormone refractory prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3, PPC-1, DU145, TSU-Pr1 and 22Rv1) and malignant melanoma cell lines (SK-MEL-5 and A375); 100nM; 40 hrs; Cells are seeded in 96-well plates at a density of 5-40 × 103. YM155 is dissolved in DMSO and added to cells for 48 hours. Then the cell count is determined by sulforhodamine B assay.

YM155 is not sensitive to survivn gene promoter-driven luciferase reporter activity even at 30 μM. YM155 significantly inhibits endogenous survivin expression in PC-3 and PPC-1 human HRPC cells with deficient p53 through transcriptional inhibition of the survivin gene promoter. On the contrary YM155 shows no sufficient effect on protein expression of c-IAP2, XIAP, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bad, α-actin, and β-tubulin at 100 nM. YM155 indicates great apoptosis in human cancer cell lines including PC-3 and PPC-1 with a concomitant increase in caspase-3 activity. YM155 potently inhibits human cancer cell lines (mutated or truncated p53) including PC-3, PPC-1, DU145, TSU-Pr1, 22Rv1, SK-MEL-5 and A375 with IC50 from 2.3 to 11 nM, respectively. YM155 increases the sensitivity of NSCLC cells to γ-radiation. The combination of YM155 and γ-radiation increases both the number of apoptotic cells and the activity of caspase-3. YM155 delays the repair of radiation-induced double-strand breaks in nuclear DNA.

Cancer Res. 2007 Sep 1;67(17):8014-21; Clin Cancer Res, 2008, 14(20), 6496-6504.