Talk:Batra 2022 Abstract Bioblast
From Bioblast
Comments by the Reviewer
Moreno-Sanchez Rafael 2022-05-31
- This work with prostate cancer cells proposes dichloroacetophenone (DPA) as a potent anti-cancer drug, which is also able to deter viability of docetaxel-resistant cancer cells. This is an interesting finding since drug-resistant cancer cells are presumably cancer stem cells, which are involved in cancer recurrence after chemotherapy. Nevertheless, some aspects in the abstract require clarification and perhaps further experimentation.
- It is stated that PDK is an oncogene. I am not sure that PDK gene, when mutated, is able to transform a normal cell into a cancer cell. It is not sufficient to affect glycolysis to classify a gene as an oncogene. This statement should be clarified.
- DCA is not a specific drug since it also affects several enzymes of the energy metabolism pathways (BBA-GS 2017, 1861: 3221-3236). Hence, similar unspecific effects could be expected by DPA, a DCA analogue. Experimental data supporting a specific effect on PDK by DPA should be shown. This potential weakness for using DPA should be described and analyzed in the present work, and it might be explicitly stated in the abstract.
- It is described that DPA “is more potent than DCA in inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, migration, colony formation and in inducing apoptosis”. Are these effects specific for prostate cancer cells? No results with non-cancer cells or other cancer cells were shown, but it is strongly recommended to carry out such control experiments, in which no toxic effects on healthy cells can be observed.
