Methyl Sartortuoate Inhibits Colon Cancer Cell Growth by Inducing Apoptosis and G2/M-Phase Arrest

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Qiusheng Lan³  Shoufeng Li²  Wei Lai³  Heyang Xu³  Yang Zhang³  Yujie Zeng³  Wenjian Lan¹  Zhonghua Chu³ 

[1] School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China;Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou 350000, China; E-Mail:;Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510120, China; E-Mails:

关键词: methyl sartortuoate;    colon cancer;    apoptosis;    G2-M arrest;    MAPK;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms160819401

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The potential anti-neoplastic activity of terpenoids is of continued interest. In this study, we investigate whether methyl sartortuoate, a terpenoid isolated from soft coral, induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a human colon cancer cell line. Culture studies found that methyl sartortuoate inhibited colon cancer cell (LoVo and RKO) growth and caused apoptotic death in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, by activation of caspase-8, caspase-9, caspase-3, p53 and Bax, and inactivation of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) apoptosis regulating proteins. Methyl sartortuoate treatment led to reduced expression of cdc2 and up-regulated p21 and p53, suggesting that Methyl sartortuoate induced G2-M arrest through modulation of p53/p21/cdc2 pathways. Methyl sartortuoate also up-regulated phospho-JNK and phospho-p38 expression levels. This resulted in cell cycle arrest at the G2-M phase and apoptosis in LoVo and RKO cells. Treatment with the JNK inhibitor SP600125 and the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 prevented methyl sartortuoate-induced apoptosis in LoVo cells. Moreover, methyl sartortuoate also prevented neoplasm growth in NOD-SCID nude mice inoculated with LoVo cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that methyl sartortuoate is capable of leading to activation of caspase-8, -9, -3, increasing p53 and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio apoptosis through MAPK-dependent apoptosis and results in G2-M phase arrest in LoVo and RKO cells. Thus, methyl sartortuoate may be a promising anticancer candidate.

【 授权许可】

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© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.