Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan, 250012, PR China.
Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan, 250012, PR China.
Chem Biol Interact. 2020 Nov 1;331:109279. doi: 10.1016/j.cbi.2020.109279. Epub 2020 Oct 7.
Due to drug resistance and side effects, the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of lung cancer is still in an urgent need. Morusin, a naturally occurring prenylated flavonoid isolated from the root bark of Morus alba, has been reported to be a promising candidate for cancer treatment including lung cancer. This study aimed to validate the anti-cancer effects of morusin in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines A549 and NCI-H292. The results indicated that morusin had growth inhibitory, pro-apoptotic and pro-autophagic effects on A549 and NCI-H292 cells. The induction of apoptosis was characterized by chromatin condensation and PARP cleavage. Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss, cytochrome c release, Bax/Bcl-2 dysregulation, and caspase-3 cleavage were also observed, indicating a mitochondria-dependent apoptosis was induced by morusin. A pro-autophagic effect was demonstrated by the increased level of LC3-Ⅱ and decreased level of SQSTM1/p62. Furthermore, morusin inhibited PI3K/Akt signaling and activated JNK, ERK pathways as indicated by the alteration in the ratio of phosphorylation level over total protein expression level. A PI3K/Akt inhibitor (LY294002), a JNK inhibitor (SP600125) and a MEK/ERK inhibitor (U0126) contributed to the determination that these pathways were involved in both apoptosis and autophagy induced by morusin. Moreover, morusin treatment strikingly enhanced intracellular ROS level, an ROS scavenger NAC blocked cell death and changes of Akt, JNK and ERK induced by morusin.
由于耐药性和副作用,新型治疗肺癌的疗法的开发仍然迫在眉睫。桑辛素是从桑白皮中分离得到的一种天然的类黄酮,已被报道为治疗肺癌等癌症的有前途的候选药物。本研究旨在验证桑辛素对人非小细胞肺癌(NSCLC)细胞系 A549 和 NCI-H292 的抗癌作用。结果表明,桑辛素对 A549 和 NCI-H292 细胞具有生长抑制、促凋亡和自噬作用。凋亡的诱导表现为染色质浓缩和 PARP 切割。还观察到线粒体膜电位(MMP)丧失、细胞色素 c 释放、Bax/Bcl-2 失调和 caspase-3 切割,表明桑辛素诱导了线粒体依赖性凋亡。自噬作用通过 LC3-Ⅱ水平升高和 SQSTM1/p62 水平降低来证明。此外,桑辛素抑制 PI3K/Akt 信号通路,并激活 JNK、ERK 通路,表现为磷酸化水平与总蛋白表达水平比值的变化。PI3K/Akt 抑制剂(LY294002)、JNK 抑制剂(SP600125)和 MEK/ERK 抑制剂(U0126)有助于确定这些通路参与了桑辛素诱导的凋亡和自噬。此外,桑辛素处理显著增加了细胞内 ROS 水平,ROS 清除剂 NAC 阻断了桑辛素引起的细胞死亡和 Akt、JNK 和 ERK 的变化。