Wenzhou Municipal Key Lab for Applied Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Informatics, College of Science and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, 325060, Zhejiang Province, China.
Zhejiang Bioinformatics International Science and Technology Cooperation Center, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, 325060, Zhejiang Province, China.
Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 2;13(1):12548. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-39742-x.
Melanoma is a type of cancer with abnormal proliferation of melanocytes and is one of the most diagnosed cancer types. In traditional Chinese medicine, pangolin scales have been used to treat various diseases, including human cancers. However, its efficacy has not been scientifically proven. Here we studied the anticancer effect and mechanism of pangolin scale extract (PSE) on melanoma cell lines using scientific approaches. Our cell viability assay shows that PSE exhibits up to approximately 50-80% inhibition on SK-MEL-103 and A375 melanoma cell lines. Mechanically, PSE inhibits melanoma cell proliferation, migration, and causes changes in cell morphology. The apoptosis assay showed a significant chromosomal condensation inside the PSE-treated melanoma cells. The sequencing and analysis of A375 melanoma cell transcriptomes revealed 3077 differentially expressed genes in the 6 h treatment group and 8027 differentially expressed genes in the 72 h treatment group. Transcriptome analysis suggests that PSE may cause cell cycle arrest in melanoma cells and promote apoptosis mainly by up-regulating the p53 signaling pathway and down-regulating the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. In this study, the anticancer effect of PSE was demonstrated by molecular biological means. PSE shows a significant inhibition effect on melanoma cell proliferation and cell migration in vitro, causes cell cycle arrest and promotes apoptosis through p53 and PI3K-AKT pathways. This study provides better insights into the anti-cancer efficacy and underlying mechanism of PSE and a theoretical basis for mining anticancer compounds or the development of new treatments for melanoma in the future. It is worth noting that this study does not advocate the use of the pangolin scale for disease treatment, but only to confirm its usefulness from a scientific research perspective and to encourage subsequent research around the development of active compounds to replace pangolin scales to achieve the conservation of this endangered species.
黑色素瘤是一种由黑色素细胞异常增殖引起的癌症，是最常见的癌症类型之一。在传统中医中，穿山甲鳞片已被用于治疗各种疾病，包括人类癌症。然而，其疗效尚未得到科学证实。在这里，我们使用科学方法研究了穿山甲鳞片提取物（PSE）对黑色素瘤细胞系的抗癌作用和机制。我们的细胞活力测定表明，PSE 对 SK-MEL-103 和 A375 黑色素瘤细胞系的抑制率高达约 50-80%。从机制上看，PSE 抑制黑色素瘤细胞增殖、迁移，并导致细胞形态发生变化。凋亡测定显示，PSE 处理的黑色素瘤细胞内出现明显的染色体浓缩。A375 黑色素瘤细胞转录组的测序和分析显示，在 6 小时处理组中有 3077 个差异表达基因，在 72 小时处理组中有 8027 个差异表达基因。转录组分析表明，PSE 可能通过上调 p53 信号通路和下调 PI3K-Akt 信号通路导致黑色素瘤细胞周期停滞并促进细胞凋亡。在这项研究中，通过分子生物学手段证明了 PSE 的抗癌作用。PSE 在体外对黑色素瘤细胞增殖和细胞迁移具有显著的抑制作用，通过 p53 和 PI3K-AKT 通路引起细胞周期停滞并促进细胞凋亡。这项研究为 PSE 的抗癌功效和潜在机制提供了更好的了解，并为未来挖掘抗癌化合物或开发黑色素瘤新疗法提供了理论依据。需要注意的是，本研究并不提倡使用穿山甲鳞片治疗疾病，而只是从科学研究的角度确认其有用性，并鼓励随后围绕开发替代穿山甲鳞片的活性化合物进行研究，以实现对这一濒危物种的保护。
