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Differential modulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and onset of caspase-3/7 activation induced by derivatives of Justicidin B in human melanoma cells A375

Al-Qathama, A; Gibbons, S; Prieto Garcia, J; (2017) Differential modulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and onset of caspase-3/7 activation induced by derivatives of Justicidin B in human melanoma cells A375. Oncotarget 10.18632/oncotarget.21625. Green open access

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Abstract

Diphyllin and its derivatives are well known cytotoxic natural products structurally related to the anti-cancer drug podophyllotoxin. We here study their structure-activity relationship upon human melanoma cells for first time. To this end, human melanoma A375 cells were incubated with Justicidin B and its 4-methoxylated or 4-glycosylated derivatives to evaluate their selective cytotoxicity and study their effects on cell cycle distribution, caspase activation, apoptosis induction using Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, cell morphology and western blot analysis. Diphyllin methyl ether (GI50 = 3.66 μM) and Justicidin B (GI50 = 1.70 μM) caused an elevation of both early and late apoptosis populations whereas Diphyllin apioside (GI50 = 0.84 μM) and its acetate (GI50= 0.39 μM) enhanced late apoptosis population only (Annexin V-positive/PI-positive). All induced cell cycle arrest at S phase and classic morphological indicators of apoptosis (blebbing, apoptotic bodies, and nuclear fragmentation) accompanied with an elevation of cells with low DNA content (sub-G1). All compounds increased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio by enhancing Bax expression which evidences the involvement of the mitochondria (intrinsic pathway) in the apoptotic process. These caspase-3/7 results evidence that 4-methoxylation or 4-O-glycosylation of Justicidin B -a caspase independent mitochondrial apoptosis-inducer- triggers caspase-3/7 activation at different times (24h vs. 48h, respectively). Interestingly, the methoxylation causes attenuation of Bcl-2 protein expression contrarily to Diphyllin methyl ether or the O-glycosylated derivatives. Finally, the compounds exhibited significantly less toxicity when tested in adult human dermal fibroblasts and their GI50 in melanoma Sk-Mel-5 cells was not influenced by MDR1/Pgp inhibitors. This study may inform the synthesis of future Diphyllin derivatives with different apoptosis mechanism of action towards human melanoma cells.

Type: Article
Title: Differential modulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and onset of caspase-3/7 activation induced by derivatives of Justicidin B in human melanoma cells A375
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.21625
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.21625
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © Al-Qathama et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: Apoptosis, caspases, Diphyllin, melanoma, cell cycle
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Pharma and Bio Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10027980
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