A potential anticancer ability of 1,2-di(quinazolin-4-yl)diselane against gastric cancer cells through ROS signaling pathway

Design, synthesis and antiproliferative screening of newly synthesized coumarin-acrylamide hybrids as potential cytotoxic and apoptosis inducing agents

On the basis of the observed biological activity of coumarin and acrylamide derivatives, a new set of coumarin-acrylamide-CA-4 hybrids was designed and synthesized. These compounds were investigated for their cytotoxic activity against cancerous human liver cell line HepG2 cells using 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) as a reference drug. Compound 6e had promising antiproliferative activity with an IC50 value of 1.88 μM against HepG2 cells compared to 5-FU (IC50 = 7.18 μM). The results of β-tubulin polymerization inhibition indicated that coumarin-acrylamide derivative 6e was the most active, with a percentage inhibition value of 84.34% compared to podophyllotoxin (88.19% β-tubulin inhibition). Moreover, the active coumarin-acrylamide molecule 6e exerted cell cycle cession at the G2/M phase stage of HepG2 cells. In addition, this compound produced a 15.24-fold increase in apoptotic cell induction compared to no-treatment control. These observations were supported by histopathological studies of liver sections. The conducted docking studies illustrated that 6e is perfectly positioned within the tubulin colchicine binding site, indicating a significant interaction that may underlie its potent tubulin inhibitory activity. The main objective of the study was to develop new potent anticancer compounds that might be further optimized to prevent the progression of cancer disease.

Design and Synthesis of Coumarin Derivatives as Cytotoxic Agents through PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway Inhibition in HL60 and HepG2 Cancer Cells

In this study, a series of coumarin derivatives, either alone or as hybrids with cinnamic acid, were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity against a panel of cancer cells using the MTT assay. Then, the most active compounds were inspected for their mechanism of cytotoxicity by cell-cycle analysis, RT-PCR, DNA fragmentation, and Western blotting techniques. Cytotoxic results showed that compound (4) had a significant cytotoxic effect against HL60 cells (IC₅₀ = 8.09 µM), while compound (8b) had a noticeable activity against HepG2 cells (IC₅₀ = 13.14 µM). Compounds (4) and (8b) mediated their cytotoxicity via PI3K/AKT pathway inhibition. These results were assured by molecular docking studies. These results support further exploratory research focusing on the therapeutic activity of coumarin derivatives as cytotoxic agents.

Lappaconitine sulfate induces apoptosis and G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest by PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells

Lappaconitine sulfate (LS) has good solubility and bioavailability. We have previously studied the anti-proliferative activity of LS on colon cancer HT-29 cell, but its anti-proliferative activity and molecular mechanism on human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells are still unclear. This study was to investigate the effects of LS on proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis in human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells, and its possible molecular mechanisms. Cell proliferation activity was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and 5-Ethynyl-2'- deoxyuridine (EdU) cell proliferation kit. Cell cycle was detected by propidium iodide (PI) flow cytometry. Apoptosis was detected by Annexin-V-FITC/PI method. Western blot was used to detect cycle and apoptosis-related proteins expression. These results showed that the proliferation activity of LS was significantly decreased in A549 cells, showing a dose- and time-dependent manner (p < 0.05). LS could increase the proportion of G0/G1 phase cells and decrease the proportion of cells in S phase, showing obvious G0/G1 phase arrest. LS significantly inhibited the expression of p-PI3K/PI3K, p-AKT/AKT, Cyclin D1 and Bcl-2 proteins (p < 0.05), and increased the expression of p53, p21, Bax, caspase 3 and caspase 9 (p < 0.05). Moreover, PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) significantly decreased A549 cell viability rate induced by LS, abrogated the activation of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT in the presence of LS. These results indicated that LS could block A549 cells in the G0/G1 phase, induce apoptosis, and inhibit cell proliferation through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.