RRC ID 75766
Author Awale S, Baba H, Phan ND, Kim MJ, Maneenet J, Sawaki K, Kanda M, Okumura T, Fujii T, Okada T, Maruyama T, Okada T, Toyooka N.
Title Targeting Pancreatic Cancer with Novel Plumbagin Derivatives: Design, Synthesis, Molecular Mechanism, In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation.
Journal J Med Chem
Abstract Pancreatic tumors grow in an "austerity" tumor microenvironment characterized by nutrient deprivation and hypoxia. This leads to the activation of adaptive pathways in pancreatic cancer cells, promoting tolerance to nutrition starvation and aggressive malignancy. Conventional anticancer drugs are often ineffective against tumors that grow in such austerity condition. Plumbagin, a plant-derived naphthoquinone, has shown potent preferential cytotoxicity against pancreatic cancer cells under nutrient-deprived conditions. Therefore, we synthesized a series of plumbagin derivatives and found that 2-(cyclohexylmethyl)-plumbagin (3f) was the most promising compound with a PC50 value of 0.11 μM. Mechanistically, 3f was found to inhibit the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways, leading to cancer cell death under nutrient-deprived conditions. In vivo studies using pancreatic cancer xenograft mouse models confirmed the efficacy of 3f, demonstrating significant inhibition of tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner. Compound 3f represents a highly promising lead for anticancer drug development based on an antiausterity strategy.
Published 2023-5-31
DOI 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c00394
PMID 37257133
IF 6.205
Resource
Human and Animal Cells PANC-1(RCB2095) MIA Paca2(RCB2094)