A hybrid of coumarin and phenylsulfonylfuroxan induces caspase-dependent apoptosis and cytoprotective autophagy in lung adenocarcinoma cells

Radix Actinidiae chinensis induces the autophagy and apoptosis in renal cell carcinoma cells

BACKGROUND

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a malignant tumor. Radix Actinidiae chinensis (RAC) is the root of Actinidia arguta (Sieb. et Zucc) Planch. ex Miq. In clinical research, RAC was confirmed to have a certain anti-tumor effect, including liver cancer and cholangiocarcinoma. This study investigated the anticancer effect and mechanism of RAC in RCC cells.

METHODS

The 786-O and A498 cells were intervened with varying concentrations of RAC (0-100 mg/mL) to detect the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of RAC. The cells were then co-cultured with 0-50 mg/mL RAC for 0-72 h to assess the effect of RAC on cell viability using the cell counting kit-8. The effects on cell proliferation, cell cycle or apoptosis, migration or invasion, and autophagy were detected using cloning, flow cytometry, Transwell, AOPI assay and Western blot. The number of autophagolysosomes was quantified using a transmission electron microscope. PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway-related proteins were detected by Western blot. Additionally, an autophagy inhibitor 3-MA was used to explore the underlying mechanism of RAC.

RESULTS

IC50 values of RAC in 786-O and A498 were 14.76 mg/mL and 13.09 mg/mL, respectively. RAC demonstrated the ability to reduce the cell malignant phenotype of RCC cells, blocked the S phase of cells, promoted apoptosis and autophagy in cells. Furthermore, RAC was observed to increase autophagy-related proteins LC3II/I and Beclin-1, while decreasing the level of P62. The expression of apoptosis-related proteins was increased, while the ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K, p-AKT/AKT, p-mTOR/mTOR, p-P38/P38 and p-ERK/ERK were reduced by RAC. However, the addition of 3-MA reduced the apoptosis and autophagy- promotion effects of RAC on RCC cells.

CONCLUSION

RAC induced the apoptosis and autophagy, to inhibit the progression of RCC cells. This study may provide a theoretical and experimental basis for clinical anti-cancer application of RAC for RCC.

Latest developments in coumarin-based anticancer agents: mechanism of action and structure-activity relationship studies

Many researchers around the world are working on the development of novel anticancer drugs with different mechanisms of action. In this case, coumarin is a highly promising pharmacophore for the development of novel anticancer drugs. Besides, the hybridization of this moiety with other anticancer pharmacophores has emerged as a potent breakthrough in the treatment of cancer to decrease its side effects and increase its efficiency. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the recent development of coumarin derivatives and their application as novel anticancer drugs. Herein, we highlight and describe the largest number of research works reported in this field from 2015 to August 2023, along with their mechanisms of action and structure-activity relationship studies, making this review different from the other review articles published on this topic to date.

Umbelliprenin induces autophagy and apoptosis while inhibits cancer cell stemness in pancreatic cancer cells

BACKGROUND

Umbelliprenin is a sesquiterpene coumarin isolated from Artemisia absinthium L. and shows antitumor effects in various cancers by inducing apoptosis. However, the antitumor effect of umbelliprenin in human pancreatic cancer has not been clarified.

METHODS

The antitumor effects were determined by MTT and AnnexinV/PI double staining assay in vitro and xenograft mice in vivo. Autophagy was determined via immunofluorescence analysis. Apoptotic or autophagic related proteins were measured by immunoblotting. The pancreatic cancer cell stemness were determined by mammosphere formation and ALDEFLUOR assay.

RESULTS

It revealed that umbelliprenin inhibited pancreatic cancer cell proliferation in vitro and pancreatic cancer tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, umbelliprenin induced pancreatic cancer cell BxPC3 apoptosis and autophagy as evidenced by upregulated apoptosis and autophagy- related protein expression (p < 0.01). Blocking autophagy by 3-MA or Atg7 knockout enhanced umbelliprenin-induced apoptosis (p < 0.05). Umbelliprenin also reduced pancreatic cancer cell stemness by reducing Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2 mRNA levels (p < 0.01). Mechanistically, umbelliprenin greatly inhibited Akt/mTOR and Notch1 signal pathway.

CONCLUSION

Umbelliprenin may be a novel therapeutic approach for pancreatic cancer treatment.

Astragaloside IV enhances the sensibility of lung adenocarcinoma cells to bevacizumab by inhibiting autophagy

Bevacizumab (BV) has an inhibitory effect on tumor growth including lung adenocarcinoma. However, its efficacy is greatly affected by drug resistance. Astragaloside IV (AST-IV) is effective in combination with other drugs is effective to treat cancer. This study aimed to investigate the effect of AST-IV on enhancing the sensibility of lung adenocarcinoma cells to BV. A549 cells were treated by different concentrations of BV and AST-IV. Cell viability, cell cycle, and apoptosis were detected by thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and flow cytometry, respectively. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting were performed to detect the expression levels of autophagy- and apoptosis-related proteins, protein kinase B (AKT), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The results showed that BV or AST-IV could inhibit the viability and promote the apoptosis of A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, BV or AST-IV inhibited Bcl-2 expression and increased the expressions of Bax and Cleaved caspase-3, and promoted apoptosis. BV and AST-IV in combination acted synergistically on viability and apoptosis of A549 cells. However, BV alone down-regulated P62 expression, LC3I/LC3II level, the number of cells arrested at S phase and the phosphorylation levels of AKT and mTOR, but upregulated the number of cells arrested at G0/G1 phase and Beclin1 expression, whereas AST-IV alone could reverse the effect of BV on autophagy-related proteins, the phosphorylation levels of AKT and mTOR. This paper demonstrates that AST-IV enhances the effect of BV on inhibiting proliferation and promoting apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma cells through inhibiting autophagy pathway.

Synthesis and evaluation of new compounds bearing 3-(4-aminopiperidin-1-yl)methyl magnolol scaffold as anticancer agents for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer via targeting autophagy

Magnolol and honokiol are the two major active ingredients with similar structure and anticancer activity from traditional Chinese medicine Magnolia officinalis, and honokiol is now in a phase I clinical trial (CTR20170822) for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In search of potent lead compounds with better activity, our previous study has demonstrated that magnolol derivative C2, 3-(4-aminopiperidin-1-yl)methyl magnolol, has better activity than honokiol. Here, based on the core of 3-(4-aminopiperidin-1-yl)methyl magnolol, we synthesized fifty-one magnolol derivatives. Among them, compound 30 exhibited the most potent antiproliferative activities on H460, HCC827, H1975 cell lines with the IC50 values of 0.63-0.93 μM, which were approximately 10- and 100-fold more potent than those of C2 and magnolol, respectively. Besides, oral administration of 30 and C2 on an H460 xenograft model also demonstrated that 30 has better activity than C2. Mechanism study revealed that 30 induced G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy in cancer cells. Moreover, blocking autophagy by the autophagic inhibitor enhanced the anticancer activity of 30in vitro and in vivo, suggesting autophagy played a cytoprotective role on 30-induced cancer cell death. Taken together, our study implied that compound 30 combined with autophagic inhibitor could be another choice for NSCLC treatment in further investigation.

Polyphenol-Mediated Autophagy in Cancer: Evidence of In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

One of the hallmarks of cellular transformation is the altered mechanism of cell death. There are three main types of cell death, characterized by different morphological and biochemical features, namely apoptosis (type I), autophagic cell death (type II) and necrosis (type III). Autophagy, or self-eating, is a tightly regulated process involved in stress responses, and it is a lysosomal degradation process. The role of autophagy in cancer is controversial and has been associated with both the induction and the inhibition of tumor growth. Autophagy can exert tumor suppression through the degradation of oncogenic proteins, suppression of inflammation, chronic tissue damage and ultimately by preventing mutations and genetic instability. On the other hand, tumor cells activate autophagy for survival in cellular stress conditions. Thus, autophagy modulation could represent a promising therapeutic strategy for cancer. Several studies have shown that polyphenols, natural compounds found in foods and beverages of plant origin, can efficiently modulate autophagy in several types of cancer. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the effects of polyphenols on autophagy, highlighting the conceptual benefits or drawbacks and subtle cell-specific effects of polyphenols for envisioning future therapies employing polyphenols as chemoadjuvants.

Autophagy suppression enhances DNA damage and cell death upon treatment with PARP inhibitor Niraparib in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Although poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, as anti-tumor drugs targeting the DNA damage response (DDR), have been used for the therapy of various tumors, few researches reported their effect on laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Here, we first discovered that the PARP-1/2 inhibitor Niraparib could simultaneously induce cell growth inhibition and autophagy in LSCC TU212 and TU686 cells. Niraparib decelerated cell cycle of LSCC by arresting G1 phase and preventing the cells from entering S phase. DNA lesions were also observed upon Niraparib treatment as evidenced by the accumulation of γH2AX and abatement of pRB expression. In addition, autophagy generation was confirmed by the observation of autophagosomes, LC3-positive autophagy-like vacuoles, and obvious conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II. Moreover, blocking autophagy enhanced Niraparib-induced growth inhibition and DNA lesions. Further studies suggested that autophagy suppression could obstruct the activation of checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) through elevating proteasomal activity and then impair the capacity of homologous recombination (HR), thereby improving the anti-LSCC efficiency of Niraparib. Collectively, these findings suggested that simultaneous targeting of Niraparib and autophagy might be a promising therapeutic schedule for LSCC in clinic.

Coumarin-containing hybrids and their anticancer activities

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and it results in around 9 million deaths annually. The anticancer agents play an intriguing role in the treatment of cancers, while the severe anticancer scenario and the emergence of drug-resistant especially multidrug-resistant cancers create a huge demand for novel anticancer drugs with different mechanisms of action. The coumarin scaffold is ubiquitous in nature and is a highly privileged motif for the development of novel drugs due to its biodiversity and versatility. Coumarin derivatives can exert diverse antiproliferative mechanisms, and some of them such as Irosustat are under clinical trials for the treatment of various cancers, revealing their potential as putative anticancer drugs. Hybridization of coumarin moiety with other anticancer pharmacophores is a promising strategy to reduce side effects, overcome the drug resistance, and may provide valuable therapeutic intervention for the treatment of cancers. Thus, coumarin-containing hybrids occupy an important position in the development of novel anticancer agents. This review aims to summarize the recent advances made towards the development of coumarin-containing hybrids as potential anticancer agents, covering articles published between 2015 and 2019, and the structure-activity relationship together with mechanisms of action are also discussed.

Sodium dehydroacetate induces coagulation dysfunction by inhibiting liver vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 in Wistar rats

Sodium dehydroacetate (Na-DHA), an antibiotic agent that combats growth of bacteria, fungi, and yeast, is used as a preservative in animal feed, food, and cosmetics. We previously reported that Na-DHA induces coagulation anomalies in Wistar rats, but the anticoagulant mechanism of Na-DHA remains to be established. Here we report that Na-DHA prolonged prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) in male and female Wistar rats. In addition, Na-DHA decreased vitamin K (VK) levels and increased the levels of protein induced by vitamin K absence/antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) in rat serum. Moreover, we found that treatment with VK not only reversed Na-DHA-decreased serum VK and -increased PIVKA-II levels, but also attenuated Na-DHA-prolonged PT and APTT, suggesting that Na-DHA-decreased serum VK level contributes to the anticoagulation due to Na-DHA. Further we found that Na-DHA inhibited vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 (VKORC1), a key enzyme in VK recycling, in the liver tissue of Wistar rats, as evidenced by reduced mRNA and protein levels of VKORC1 following Na-DHA treatment. Taken together, our data indicate that Na-DHA inhibits liver VKORC1, resulting in a decrease of serum VK levels, leading to abnormal coagulation in rats.

A novel hybrid of 3-benzyl coumarin seco-B-ring derivative and phenylsulfonylfuroxan induces apoptosis and autophagy in non-small-cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Compound 6, as a novel hybrid of 3-benzyl coumarin seco-B-ring derivative and nitric oxide (NO) donor phenylsulfonylfuroxan, has the potential to develop into an anticancer drug because it displays significant antiproliferation activitity for various solid cancer cell lines including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells.

PURPOSE

We attempt to uncover the capacities of compound 6 to induce apoptosis and autophagy in NSCLC cells, as well as the underlying mechanism involved in this process.

METHODS

The effect of compound 6 on cell viability was evaluated in A549 cells by MTT assay. Apoptosis was mainly detected by flow cytometry. The induction of autophagy was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confocal microscopy as well as western-blotting technique. The expression of all related-proteins including PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway were also examined by western-blotting technique.

RESULTS

Above all, distinct growth inhibition and caspase-dependent apoptosis were detected in A549 cells administered with compound 6. Then, we confirmed the induction of autophagy triggered by compound 6 in A549 cells. Noticeably, blocking autophagy using a series of inhibitors and ATG5 siRNA had little effect on the cytotoxicity of compound 6, elucidating nonprotective autophagy triggered in NSCLC cells. Further research illustrated that PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway was involved in compound 6-induced apoptosis, and 3-MA as well as LY294002 had synergistic inhibiting effect on proliferation of A549 cells through the pathway mentioned above.

CONCLUSION

These findings raise a rationale that this 3-benzyl coumarin seco-B-ring derivative and phenylsulfonylfuroxan hybrid could be a promising candidate for developing as a therapeutic agent toward NSCLC, and the combination therapy through PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway may result in optimized treatment outcomes.

Delivery of coumarin-containing all-trans retinoic acid derivatives via targeted nanoparticles encapsulating indocyanine green for chemo/photothermal/photodynamic therapy of breast cancer

Development of chemo/photothermal/photodynamic therapy with nanoplatforms offers a promising strategy for effective cancer treatment.

Chemopreventive effects of some popular phytochemicals on human colon cancer: a review

The present review summarizes (1) the epidemiology and etiology of colon cancer, (2) generalized cancer chemoprotective mechanisms, and (3) the chemopreventive properties of some popular phytochemicals as well as some phytochemicals developed by our research group recently.