Paccez Juliano D, Duncan Kristal, Sekar Durairaj, Correa Ricardo G, Wang Yihong, Gu Xuesong, Bashin Manoj, Chibale Kelly, Libermann Towia A, Zerbini Luiz F
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Cape Town, South Africa.
Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Oncogenesis. 2019 Feb 19;8(3):14. doi: 10.1038/s41389-019-0122-6.
Axl expression is deregulated in several cancer types, predicts poor overall patient survival and is linked to resistance to drug therapy. Here, we evaluated a library of natural compounds for inhibitors of Axl and identified dihydroartemisinin, the active principle of the anti-malarial drug artemisinin, as an Axl-inhibitor in prostate cancer. Dihydroartemisinin blocks Axl expression leading to apoptosis, decrease in cell proliferation, migration, and tumor development of prostate cancer cells. Dihydroartemisinin treatment synergizes with docetaxel, a standard of care in metastatic prostate cancer increasing overall survival of mice with human xenografts. Dihydroartemisinin control of miR-34a and miR-7 expression leads to inhibition of Axl expression in a process at least partially dependent on regulation of chromatin via methylation of histone H3 lysine 27 residues by Jumonji, AT-rich interaction domain containing 2 (JARID2), and the enhancer of zeste homolog 2. Our discovery of a previously unidentified miR-34a/miR-7/JARID2 pathway controlling dihydroartemisinin effects on Axl expression and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumor formation provides new molecular mechanistic insights into dihydroartemisinin anticancer effect on prostate cancer with potential therapeutic implications.
Axl在多种癌症类型中表达失调,预示患者总体生存率不佳,且与耐药性相关。在此,我们评估了一个天然化合物文库以寻找Axl抑制剂,并鉴定出双氢青蒿素,即抗疟药物青蒿素的活性成分,为前列腺癌中的一种Axl抑制剂。双氢青蒿素可阻断Axl表达,导致前列腺癌细胞凋亡、细胞增殖、迁移及肿瘤发展减少。双氢青蒿素治疗与多西他赛协同作用,多西他赛是转移性前列腺癌的标准治疗药物,可提高人异种移植小鼠的总体生存率。双氢青蒿素对miR-34a和miR-7表达的调控导致Axl表达受抑制,该过程至少部分依赖含Jumonji、富含AT互作结构域2(JARID2)和zeste同源物2增强子的组蛋白H3赖氨酸27残基甲基化对染色质的调控。我们发现了一条此前未被识别的miR-34a/miR-7/JARID2途径,该途径控制双氢青蒿素对Axl表达的影响以及对癌细胞增殖、迁移、侵袭和肿瘤形成的抑制,为双氢青蒿素对前列腺癌的抗癌作用提供了新的分子机制见解,具有潜在的治疗意义。