Chintharlapalli Sudhakar, Papineni Sabitha, Ramaiah Shashi K, Safe Stephen
Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77843-4466, USA.
Cancer Res. 2007 Mar 15;67(6):2816-23. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-3735.
Betulinic acid is a pentacyclic triterpene natural product initially identified as a melanoma-specific cytotoxic agent that exhibits low toxicity in animal models. Subsequent studies show that betulinic acid induces apoptosis and antiangiogenic responses in tumors derived from multiple tissues; however, the underlying mechanism of action is unknown. Using LNCaP prostate cancer cells as a model, we now show that betulinic acid decreases expression of vascular endothelial growth (VEGF) and the antiapoptotic protein survivin. The mechanism of these betulinic acid-induced antiangiogenic and proapoptotic responses in both LNCaP cells and in tumors is due to activation of selective proteasome-dependent degradation of the transcription factors specificity protein 1 (Sp1), Sp3, and Sp4, which regulate VEGF and survivin expression. Thus, betulinic acid acts as a novel anticancer agent through targeted degradation of Sp proteins that are highly overexpressed in tumors.
桦木酸是一种五环三萜类天然产物,最初被鉴定为一种黑色素瘤特异性细胞毒性剂,在动物模型中表现出低毒性。随后的研究表明,桦木酸可诱导源自多种组织的肿瘤发生凋亡和抗血管生成反应;然而,其潜在的作用机制尚不清楚。以LNCaP前列腺癌细胞为模型,我们现在表明桦木酸可降低血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)和抗凋亡蛋白存活素的表达。桦木酸在LNCaP细胞和肿瘤中诱导这些抗血管生成和促凋亡反应的机制是由于选择性蛋白酶体依赖性降解调节VEGF和存活素表达的转录因子特异性蛋白1(Sp1)、Sp3和Sp4。因此,桦木酸通过靶向降解在肿瘤中高度过表达的Sp蛋白而作为一种新型抗癌剂发挥作用。