Peng Yingxiu, Li Ning, Tang Feifeng, Qian Chunmei, Jia Tingting, Liu Jingjin, Xu Yanfeng
Department of Pharmacy, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 200071, Shanghai, China.
Central Laboratory, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 200071, Shanghai, China.
Cell Death Discov. 2022 Aug 29;8(1):376. doi: 10.1038/s41420-022-01169-0.
Primary liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world, and the lack of effective treatments is the main reason for the high mortality. Corosolic acid (CA) has been proved to have antitumor activity. In this study, we found that CA can sensitize liver cancer cells to ferroptosis, which is a regulated form of cell death characterized by iron-dependent lipid peroxides reaching lethal levels. Here, we revealed that CA can inhibit glutathione (GSH) synthesis via HERPUD1, decreasing the cellular GSH level and causing liver cancer cells to become more sensitive to ferroptosis. Mechanistically, further studies found that HERPUD1 reduced the ubiquitination of the GSS-associated E3 ubiquitin ligase MDM2, which promoted ubiquitination of GSS, thereby inhibiting GSH synthesis to increase ferroptosis susceptibility. Importantly, a mouse xenograft model also demonstrated that CA inhibits tumor growth via HERPUD1. Collectively, our findings suggesting that CA is a candidate component for the development of treatments against liver cancer.
原发性肝癌是全球癌症死亡的第三大主要原因,而缺乏有效的治疗方法是导致高死亡率的主要原因。熊果酸(CA)已被证明具有抗肿瘤活性。在本研究中,我们发现CA可使肝癌细胞对铁死亡敏感,铁死亡是一种受调控的细胞死亡形式,其特征是铁依赖性脂质过氧化物达到致死水平。在这里,我们揭示了CA可通过HERPUD1抑制谷胱甘肽(GSH)合成,降低细胞内GSH水平,使肝癌细胞对铁死亡更敏感。机制上,进一步研究发现HERPUD1减少了与GSS相关的E3泛素连接酶MDM2的泛素化,促进了GSS的泛素化,从而抑制GSH合成以增加铁死亡易感性。重要的是,小鼠异种移植模型也证明CA通过HERPUD1抑制肿瘤生长。总体而言,我们的研究结果表明CA是开发肝癌治疗方法的候选成分。