# Investigating drug targets and improving drug delivery for anti-cancer treatment of osteosarcoma

> **NIH NIH SC1** · HUNTER COLLEGE · 2021 · $390,000

## Abstract

Osteosarcoma is cancer of bone, most common in children and young adults. Metastasis is either present at
the time of diagnosis or develops later during the course of treatment in most patients. The survival rate with
metastatic osteosarcoma is very low, therefore new therapeutic interventions are needed. Our lab has
demonstrated that Riluzole, a glutamate release inhibitor, is effective in inhibiting proliferation and inducing
apoptosis both in human and mouse osteosarcoma. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that Riluzole blocks
the activity of the mGluR5 receptor signaling to inhibit growth in osteosarcoma cells. Yes associated protein
(YAP) is a transcription co-activator involved in cell proliferation. The evidence in literature shows that YAP
phosphorylated at serine 127 facilitates cytoplasmic sequestration and degradation of YAP. Furthermore, YAP
is phosphorylated at Y357 by C-Abl kinase under DNA damage-induced stress. Interestingly, phosphorylation
of YAP at Y357 promotes strong interaction with p73, a transcription co-activator, to induce transcription of pro-
apoptotic genes. Our data has shown that Riluzole decreased phosphorylation of YAP at serine 127 and
increased nuclear localization of YAP. Furthermore, Riluzole also changed the localization of a YAP mutant,
YAPS5A (five serine residues at 61, 109, 127, 164, and 397 changed to alanine) from cytoplasm to nucleus
suggesting that change is localization is independent of phosphorylation at these sites. We hypothesize that
the increase in nuclear localization of YAP facilitates transcription of pro-apoptotic genes. We want to
determine if YAP is directly involved in Riluzole-induced apoptosis and if YAP is regulated by C-Abl to activate
pro-apoptotic genes in osteosarcoma cells. We will use human metastatic osteosarcoma cells, LM7, and
mouse cells lines, OS482, to study the effect of: a) Riluzole on phosphorylation of YAP at Y357 b) C-Abl
inhibitors on phosphorylation of YAP at Y357 and Riluzole-induced apoptosis c) Riluzole on osteosarcoma
cells with YAP knockdown or C-Abl knockdown to confirm the role of YAP and C-Abl in apoptosis d) Riluzole
on YAP and P73 binding and on transcription of Bax promoter in a luciferase reporter assay.
Our recent in vitro data has demonstrated that Riluzole released from the iron oxide nanocage is more
effective in inducing apoptosis in LM7 cells compared to free Riluzole or Riluzole released from the
nanosphere. We hypothesize that Riluzole released from Riluzole-loaded nanocage will be more effective,
compared to free Riluzole, in reducing metastasis in a nude mouse model. We will implant osteosarcoma cells,
LM7.eGFP.ffLuc, in the tail vein of nude mouse. We will randomly sort the animals in 4 groups and carry out
the following treatments. 1) no treatment, 2) free Riluzole, 3) nanocage alone, 4) Riluzole-loaded nanocage.
We will treat the animals and monitor metastasis using bioluminescence imaging in all groups. We will perform
whole animal magnetic ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10136024
- **Project number:** 5SC1GM131929-02
- **Recipient organization:** HUNTER COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Shahana Sultana Mahajan
- **Activity code:** SC1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $390,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10136024

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10136024, Investigating drug targets and improving drug delivery for anti-cancer treatment of osteosarcoma (5SC1GM131929-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10136024. Licensed CC0.

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