Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor and one of the human malignancies with the highest mortality. Standard approaches for GBM, including gross total resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, cannot destroy all the cancer cells, and despite advances in its treatment, the prognosis for GBM remains poor. The problem is that we still do not understand what triggers GBM. Until now, the most successful chemotherapy with temozolomide for brain gliomas is not effective, and therefore new therapeutic strategies for GBM are needed. We found that juglone (J), which exhibits cytotoxic, anti-proliferative, and anti-invasive effects on various cells, could be a promising agent for GBM therapy. In this paper, we present the effects of juglone alone and in combination with temozolomide on glioblastoma cells. In addition to the analysis of cell viability and the cell cycle, we looked at the epigenetics effects of these compounds on cancer cells. We showed that juglone induces strong oxidative stress, as identified by a high increase in the amount of 8-oxo-dG, and decreases m5C in the DNA of cancer cells. In combination with TMZ, juglone modulates the level of both marker compounds. Our results strongly suggest that a combination of juglone and temozolomide can be applied for better GBM treatment.
Keywords: 5-methylcytosine; 8-oxo-eoxyguanosine; DNA methylation; GBM; TMZ; epigenetics; juglone.