Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, 88 Ting-Chow Rd, Sec 4, Taipei, 116, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Apoptosis. 2017 Oct;22(10):1235-1245. doi: 10.1007/s10495-017-1401-3.
To fight cancer at its roots by targeting cancer stem cells is a promising approach for therapy. Previously, an indolylquinoline derivative, 3-((7-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-methyl)-2-methylquinoline (EMMQ), was reported effectively inhibiting the growth of lung cancer cells through impairment of cellular mitochondria functions. To address more on drug efficiency, the study further exploited if EMMQ can impede the propagation of tumorspheres stemmed from non-small cell lung cancer cells. EMMQ inhibited proliferation of spheroids in culture. In animal models, administration of the drug attenuated the spheroid tumorigenicity. The activated apoptosis alleviated growth of xenograft tumors in immune-deficient mice as established by the enriched tumorspheres. More evidence suggested that the reduced stemness of the spheroid tumors is attributed to apoptotic death. The findings supported that EMMQ is an eligible approach to eradicate the minor but tumorigenic lung cancer tumorspheres.
通过靶向肿瘤干细胞来从根源上治疗癌症是一种很有前途的治疗方法。此前，有研究报道称，一种吲哚基喹啉衍生物 3-((7-乙基-1H-吲哚-3-基)-甲基)-2-甲基喹啉 (EMMQ) 通过损害细胞线粒体功能有效抑制肺癌细胞的生长。为了进一步提高药物的疗效，本研究进一步探讨了 EMMQ 是否能抑制非小细胞肺癌细胞来源的肿瘤球的增殖。EMMQ 抑制了球体在培养中的增殖。在动物模型中，药物的给药减弱了球体的致瘤性。富含肿瘤球的免疫缺陷小鼠的异种移植肿瘤生长得到了缓解，提示凋亡的激活。更多的证据表明，肿瘤球体的干性降低归因于细胞凋亡。这些发现支持了 EMMQ 是一种根除少量但具有致瘤性的肺癌肿瘤球的有效方法。
