Lycorine induces apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells and inhibits triglyceride production via binding and targeting FABP5

Uncover the anticancer potential of lycorine

BACKGROUND

Natural products have a long history in drug discovery. Lycorine is an alkaloid derived from Amaryllidaceae plants, demonstrating significant pharmacological potential. Lycorine and its hydrochloride salt, lycorine hydrochloride, have shown outstanding anticancer effects both in vitro and in vivo.

PURPOSE

This review aims to comprehensively summarize recent research advancements regarding the anticancer potential of lycorine and lycorine hydrochloride. It intends to elucidate current research limitations, optimization strategies, and future research directions to guide clinical translation.

METHODS

Various databases, e.g., Web of Science, PubMed, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, are systematically searched for relevant articles using keywords such as lycorine, cancer, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity. The retrieved literature is then categorized and summarized to provide an overview of the research advancements in the anticancer potential of lycorine and lycorine hydrochloride.

RESULTS

Lycorine and lycorine hydrochloride demonstrate significant anticancer activities against various types of cancer both in vitro and in vivo, employing diverse mechanisms such as inducing cell cycle arrest, triggering cellular senescence, regulating programmed cell death, inhibiting angiogenesis, suppressing metastasis, and modulating immune system. Furthermore, pharmacokinetic profiles and toxicity data are summarized. Additionally, this review discusses the druggability, limitations, optimization strategies, and target identification of lycorine, offering insights for future preclinical studies.

CONCLUSION

The anticancer effects and safety profile of lycorine and lycorine hydrochloride suggest promising potential for clinical applications. Further research on their in-depth mechanisms and optimization strategies targeting their limitations will enhance the understanding and druggability of lycorine and lycorine hydrochloride.

Lycorine attenuated proliferation and induced apoptosis on imatinib-resistant K562 cell by inhibiting autophagy

BACKGROUND

Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) resistance is a significant factor exacerbating the burden on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and impacting clinical efficacy. The main goal is to offer new insights into overcoming drug resistance in treating CML.

METHODS

Imatinib (IM) resistant K562/IM cells were generated using gradient induction. Responses to IM, lycorine, and autophagy modulators were assessed using CCK-8. Protein expression of Beclin-1, Atg5, LC3, Caspase-3, P62, Bax, Bcl-2, and P-gp was detected using Western blot. Lycorine-induced apoptosis and cell cycle changes were evaluated through flow cytometry, while autophagy alterations were detected using monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining. In the K562/IM mice model, non-obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficent (NOD-SCID) mice were subcutaneously inoculated with K562/IM cells. After 17 days of lycorine injection, assessments included tumor size, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and Ki67 expression.

RESULTS

After 72 h of IM treatment, K562/IM cells showed a 55.86-fold increase in drug resistance compared to K562 cells. Lycorine treatment for 24 h inhibited cell proliferation and induced G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in both K562 and K562/IM cells. MDC staining indicated reduced autophagy in K562/IM cells, mitigated by lycorine. In vivo experiments demonstrated reduced tumor size and Ki67 proliferation index in the lycorine treatment group (K562+L, K562/IM+L) compared to the control group, particularly in the drug-resistant group. However, no significant change in Ki67 was observed in the K562 group after lycorine treatment.

CONCLUSION

In summary, K562/IM cells displayed heightened autophagy levels compared to K562 cells. Lycorine effectively impeded the proliferation of K562/IM cells through diverse mechanisms, including reduced autophagy, enhanced apoptosis, and induced cell cycle arrest.

Recent Advances on Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Lipocalin-like Proteins

Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are crucial players in nonvesicular lipid trafficking. LTPs sharing a lipocalin lipid transfer domain (lipocalin-like proteins) have a wide range of biological functions, such as regulating immune responses and cell proliferation, differentiation, and death as well as participating in the pathogenesis of inflammatory, metabolic, and neurological disorders and cancer. Therefore, the development of small-molecule inhibitors targeting these LTPs is important and has potential clinical applications. Herein, we summarize the structure and function of lipocalin-like proteins, mainly including retinol-binding proteins, lipocalins, and fatty acid-binding proteins and discuss the recent advances on small-molecule inhibitors for these protein families and their applications in disease treatment. The findings of our Perspective can provide guidance for the development of inhibitors of these LTPs and highlight the challenges that might be faced during the procedures.

Natural products reverse cancer multidrug resistance

Cancer stands as a prominent global cause of death. One of the key reasons why clinical tumor chemotherapy fails is multidrug resistance (MDR). In recent decades, accumulated studies have shown how Natural Product-Derived Compounds can reverse tumor MDR. Discovering novel potential modulators to reduce tumor MDR by Natural Product-Derived Compounds has become a popular research area across the globe. Numerous studies mainly focus on natural products including flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, polyphenols and coumarins for their MDR modulatory activity. Natural products reverse MDR by regulating signaling pathways or the relevant expressed protein or gene. Here we perform a deep review of the previous achievements, recent advances in the development of natural products as a treatment for MDR. This review aims to provide some insights for the study of multidrug resistance of natural products.