Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most diagnosed cancer and the second most deadly type of cancer worldwide. In late diagnosis, CRC can resist therapy regimens in which cancer stem cells (CSCs) are intimately related. CSCs are a subpopulation of tumor cells responsible for tumor initiation and maintenance, metastasis, and resistance to conventional treatments. In this scenario, colorectal cancer stem cells (CCSCs) are considered an important key for therapeutic failure and resistance. In its turn, mitochondria is an organelle involved in many mechanisms in cancer, including chemoresistance of cytotoxic drugs due to alterations in mitochondrial metabolism, apoptosis, dynamics, and mitophagy. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the mitochondrial role in CCSCs regarding CRC drug resistance. It has been shown that enhanced anti-apoptotic protein expression, mitophagy rate, and addiction to oxidative phosphorylation are the major strategies developed by CCSCs to avoid drug insults. Thus, new mitochondria-targeted drug approaches must be explored to mitigate CRC chemoresistance via the ablation of CCSCs.

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1/redox factor-1 (APE1/REF-1) is a multifunctional protein acting on cellular signaling pathways, including DNA repair and redox activities. APE1/REF-1 has emerged as a target for cancer therapy, and its role in breast cancer models would reveal new strategies for cancer therapy. APX2009 is a specific APE1/REF-1 redox inhibitor whose anticancer properties have not been described in breast cancer cells. Here, we investigated the effect of the APX2009 treatment in the breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7. Breast cancer cell lines were cultured, and WST1 and colony formation assays were performed to evaluate cell proliferation. Annexin V-FITC/7-AAD and LDH-Glo™ assays were performed to evaluate cell death. The wound healing assay and Matrigel transwell assay were performed after APX2009 treatment to evaluate the cellular migration and invasion processes, respectively. Our findings demonstrated that APX2009 treatment decreased breast cancer cell proliferative, migratory, and invasive properties. Furthermore, it induced apoptosis in both cell lines. Our study is the first to show the effects of APX2009 treatment on apoptosis in a breast cancer cell. Therefore, this study suggested that APX2009 treatment is a promising anticancer molecule for breast cancer.

The residual biomasses of coffee and other beverages generated in coffee shops, restaurants, residences, bars among others do not have registers due to the difficulty of quantifying this type of waste in different places. To analyze the toxic effects for substance or mixed substances improperly discarded should be performed toxicity tests that aim to predict the potential impact of a xenobiotic on the environment. The objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of the solubilized extract of coffe waste on the germination and development of onion seedlings (A. cepa), as well as to evaluate the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of this extract in onion root meristematic cells. The experimental design was completely randomized, consisting of five treatments for the test group and two control group. For all treatments, 5 replicates were used. To evaluate the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity test, 5 seedlings of each treatment were removed after the germination process. Thus, from the treatment T2, the extract was able to provide a deleterious effect on germination and root growth. The extract presented a genotoxic effect in the concentration of T2 to T5 treatments, and in addition to genotoxicity, T3 to T5 treatments also showed a cytotoxic effect.