Na
+/K
+-ATPase-Targeted Cytotoxicity of (+)-Digoxin and Several Semisynthetic Derivatives.
JOURNAL OF NATURAL PRODUCTS 2020;
83:638-648. [PMID:
32096998 PMCID:
PMC7243443 DOI:
10.1021/acs.jnatprod.9b01060]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
(+)-Digoxin (1) is a well-known cardiac glycoside long used to treat congestive heart failure and found more recently to show anticancer activity. Several known cardenolides (2-5) and two new analogues, (+)-8(9)-β-anhydrodigoxigenin (6) and (+)-17-epi-20,22-dihydro-21α-hydroxydigoxin (7), were synthesized from 1 and evaluated for their cytotoxicity toward a small panel of human cancer cell lines. A preliminary structure-activity relationship investigation conducted indicated that the C-12 and C-14 hydroxy groups and the C-17 unsaturated lactone unit are important for 1 to mediate its cytotoxicity toward human cancer cells, but the C-3 glycosyl residue seems to be less critical for such an effect. Molecular docking profiles showed that the cytotoxic 1 and the noncytotoxic derivative 7 bind differentially to Na+/K+-ATPase. The HO-12β, HO-14β, and HO-3'aα hydroxy groups of (+)-digoxin (1) may form hydrogen bonds with the side-chains of Asp121 and Asn122, Thr797, and Arg880 of Na+/K+-ATPase, respectively, but the altered lactone unit of 7 results in a rotation of its steroid core, which depotentiates the binding between this compound and Na+/K+-ATPase. Thus, 1 was found to inhibit Na+/K+-ATPase, but 7 did not. In addition, the cytotoxic 1 did not affect glucose uptake in human cancer cells, indicating that this cardiac glycoside mediates its cytotoxicity by targeting Na+/K+-ATPase but not by interacting with glucose transporters.
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