Near-Infrared MAO A Inhibitor (NMI) Outperformed FDA-Approved Chemotherapeutic Agents in Brain and Other Cancers: A Bioinformatic Analysis of NCI60 Screening Data

Our previous work has shown that monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) is overexpressed in glioma and prostate cancer. Near-infrared dye conjugate MAO A Inhibitor (NMI) inhibited the growth of these cancers. This study investigated the effects of NMI on other cancers by NCI60 screening. Our results showed that 48 out of 59 screened cell lines from nine types of cancer had 100% growth inhibition at 10 μM NMI treatment. The in vitro efficacy of NMI determined by growth inhibition (GI(50) and TGI) and lethal doses (LC(50)) has been further studied in various cell lines of CNS cancer, prostate cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), these three cancers showed increased MAO A expression in tumors compared to normal tissues. Based on the waterfall plots and the 3D scatter plot of GI(50), TGI, and LC(50) data, NMI showed higher potency to several CNS cancer and NSCLC cell lines than prostate cancer cell lines. In vitro efficacy of NMI outperformed FDA-approved drugs for CNS cancer, prostate cancer, and NSCLC, respectively. The Pairwise Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) showed that NMI has a unique mechanism compared to the existing anticancer drugs. This study shows that NMI is a novel theragnostic drug with high potency and unique mechanisms for brain, prostate, NSCLC, and other cancers.