Int J Biol Sci 2021; 17(4):986-994. doi:10.7150/ijbs.48170 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Medical Faculty of Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China.
2. Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.
3. Center for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, 100191, China.
4. College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350116, China.
5. Translational Cancer Research Center, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, 100034, China.
6. KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.
7. Institute of Translation Medicine, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518035, China.
#These authors contributed equally to this work.
As the most malignant subtype of breast cancers, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks effective targeted therapeutics clinically to date. In this study, one lead compound FZU-0025-065 with isochromanoindolenine scaffold was identified by a cell-based screening. Among nine breast cancer cell lines tested, TNBC are the most sensitive cell lines to FZU-0025-065. FZU-0025-065 inhibits TNBC cell growth in a time- and dosage-dependent manner. FZU-0025-065 suppresses the expression of cell cycle dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), Cyclin D1 and Cyclin B1; meanwhile, elevates the expression of cell cycle dependent kinase inhibitor p21 and p27. Importantly, we found that FZU-0025-065 suppresses AKT activation in a time- and dosage-dependent manner. Over-expression of constitutive active AKT partially rescues FZU-0025-065 induced cell growth inhibition in MDA-MB-468 cells, indicating FZU-0025-065 suppresses TNBC cell growth partially via inhibiting AKT activation. Finally, FZU-0025-065 suppresses TNBC cell growth in a xenograft mouse model. Taken together, our findings suggested that isochromanoindolenine derivative FZU-0025-065 inhibits TNBC via suppressing the AKT signaling and that FZU-0025-065 may be useful for TNBC treatment.
Keywords: Isochromanoindolenine, TNBC, cell cycle arrest, AKT