The identification of dual protective agents against cisplatin-induced oto-and nephrotoxicity using the zebrafish model

  1. Jaime N Wertman
  2. Nicole Melong
  3. Matthew R Stoyek
  4. Olivia Piccolo
  5. Stewart Langley
  6. Benno Orr
  7. Shelby L Steele
  8. Babak Razaghi
  9. Jason N Berman  Is a corresponding author
  1. Dalhousie University, Canada
  2. Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Canada
  3. IWK Health Centre, Canada
  4. University of Toronto, Canada
  5. Appili Therapeutics, Canada

Abstract

Dose-limiting toxicities for cisplatin administration, including ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity, impact the clinical utility of this effective chemotherapy agent and lead to lifelong complications, particularly in pediatric cancer survivors. Using a two-pronged drug screen employing the zebrafish lateral line as an in vivo readout for ototoxicity and kidney cell-based nephrotoxicity assay, we screened 1280 compounds and identified 22 that were both oto- and nephroprotective. Of these, dopamine and L-mimosine, a plant-based amino acid active in the dopamine pathway, were further investigated. Dopamine and L-mimosine protected the hair cells in the zebrafish otic vesicle from cisplatin-induced damage and preserved zebrafish larval glomerular filtration. Importantly, these compounds did not abrogate the cytotoxic effects of cisplatin on human cancer cells. This study provides insights into the mechanisms underlying cisplatin-induced oto- and nephrotoxicity and compelling preclinical evidence for the potential utility of dopamine and L-mimosine in the safer administration of cisplatin.

Data availability

The full list of hits from both the oto- and nephrotoxicity drug screens are available on Dryad, under the doi: 10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfn8n

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Jaime N Wertman

    Microbiology & Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6029-3376
  2. Nicole Melong

    Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Matthew R Stoyek

    Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Olivia Piccolo

    Pediatrics, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Stewart Langley

    Pediatrics, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Benno Orr

    Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Shelby L Steele

    Drug Development, Appili Therapeutics, Halifax, Canada
    Competing interests
    Shelby L Steele, Shelby L. Steele is affiliated with Appili Therapeutics Inc. The author has no financial interests to declare.
  8. Babak Razaghi

    Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  9. Jason N Berman

    Hematology/Oncology, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada
    For correspondence
    jberman@cheo.on.ca
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4053-6067

Funding

No operating funds were directly associated with this work. Jaime Wertman was supported throughout the study by a Killam Predoctoral Award and an IWK Graduate Studentship.The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: The use of zebrafish in this study was approved by, and carried out in accordance with, the policies of the Dalhousie University Committee on Laboratory Animals (Protocols #17-131 and #17-055).

Copyright

© 2020, Wertman et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Jaime N Wertman
  2. Nicole Melong
  3. Matthew R Stoyek
  4. Olivia Piccolo
  5. Stewart Langley
  6. Benno Orr
  7. Shelby L Steele
  8. Babak Razaghi
  9. Jason N Berman
(2020)
The identification of dual protective agents against cisplatin-induced oto-and nephrotoxicity using the zebrafish model
eLife 9:e56235.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56235

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56235

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