Abstract 2193: Structural modification of the chemotherapeutic anandamide: Designing anti-cancer agents and investigating their COX-2 metabolic products
Authors: Morris Andrew , Soliman Eman , Dross Rukiyah Van , Burns Colin 
Published: July 2017

Many epithelial cancers have been shown to overexpress the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an enzyme responsible for metabolizing anandamide (AEA) to prostamides. AEA has demonstrated cytotoxicity in COX-2 overexpressing cancers via its metabolism to novel J-series prostamides, namely 15d-PMJ2. Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) degrades AEA into arachidonic acid and ethanolamine (EA), limiting the cytotoxic capability of AEA. Cell lines with high FAAH expression have demonstrated resistance to AEA. By understanding the metabolic characteristics of FAAH, we can design AEA analogs which circumvent FAAH breakdown. To examine the effects of altering polarity, steric bulk, and functional groups on AEA-mediated cytotoxicity, we investigated known AEA derivatives which possess these properties. Arvanil, Arachidonoyl Diethanolamine (ADA), Arachidonoyl Serinol (AS), and R1-methanandamide (m-AEA) add steric bulk to the molecule via aromatic rings, extra EA arms and additional alcohol/methyl functional groups respectively. Arachidonoyl glycine (NAGly) substitutes the terminal EA alcohol with a carboxylic acid increasing polarity. Arachidonoyl-2’-chloroethylamine (AC) substitutes the terminal EA alcohol with a highly soluble chlorine. Furthermore, it is known that Arvanil, ADA, AS, and m-AEA resist degradation of the molecule by FAAH and NAGly is a known substrate of COX-2. Therefore our goal was to determine which structural modifications improve AEA-mediated cytotoxicity. To determine this, JWF2 tumorigenic keratinocytes were exposed to differing concentrations of the AEA analogs for 24 hours and cell viability was measured by conducting MTS assays. Arvanil demonstrated a 90% reduction in cell viability, NAGly demonstrated a 70% reduction in cell viability, and m-AEA demonstrated a 100% reduction in cell viability at 20 µM, the optimal dosage of AEA. Due to the fact that ADA, AS, and AC did not show a significant reduction in cell viability these molecules were not further examined. MTS assays were conducted in other epithelial cancer cell lines with varying expressions of COX-2 and FAAH. Each cell line was exposed to varying concentrations of either NAGly, Arvanil, or both for 24 hours. NAGly demonstrated a 40% reduction in cell viability in HT-29 colon cancer cells (low COX-2, high FAAH). Arvanil demonstrated a 60% reduction in A431 tumorigenic keratinocytes. NAGly demonstrated a 60% reduction in cell viability and Arvanil demonstrated a 100% reduction in cell viability in patient-derived primary melanoma. These findings suggest that modulation and substitute to the core structure of AEA will result in decreased susceptibility to FAAH degradation and enhanced antineoplastic activity.

Citation Format: Andrew Morris, Eman Soliman, Rukiyah Van Dross, Colin Burns. Structural modification of the chemotherapeutic anandamide: Designing anti-cancer agents and investigating their COX-2 metabolic products [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2193. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2193