Phenothiazines alter plasma membrane properties and sensitize cancer cells to injury by inhibiting annexin-mediated repair

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Anne Sofie Busk Heitmann
  • Ali Asghar Hakami Zanjani
  • Martin Berg Klenow
  • Anna Mularski
  • Stine Lauritzen Sønder
  • Frederik Wendelboe Lund
  • Theresa Louise Boye
  • Catarina Dias
  • Bendix, Pól Martin
  • Adam Cohen Simonsen
  • Himanshu Khandelia
  • Jesper Nylandsted

Repair of damaged plasma membrane in eukaryotic cells is largely dependent on the binding of annexin repair proteins to phospholipids. Changing the biophysical properties of the plasma membrane may provide means to compromise annexin-mediated repair and sensitize cells to injury. Since, cancer cells experience heightened membrane stress and are more dependent on efficient plasma membrane repair, inhibiting repair may provide approaches to sensitize cancer cells to plasma membrane damage and cell death. Here, we show that derivatives of phenothiazines, which have widespread use in the fields of psychiatry and allergy treatment, strongly sensitize cancer cells to mechanical-, chemical-, and heat-induced injury by inhibiting annexin-mediated plasma membrane repair. Using a combination of cell biology, biophysics, and computer simulations, we show that trifluoperazine acts by thinning the membrane bilayer, making it more fragile and prone to ruptures. Secondly, it decreases annexin binding by compromising the lateral diffusion of phosphatidylserine, inhibiting the ability of annexins to curve and shape membranes, which is essential for their function in plasma membrane repair. Our results reveal a novel avenue to target cancer cells by compromising plasma membrane repair in combination with noninvasive approaches that induce membrane injuries.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101012
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume297
Issue number2
ISSN0021-9258
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier Inc on behalf of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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