Abstract

It is of great significance to find new effective drugs for an adjuvant therapy targeting lung cancer to improve the survival rate and prognosis of patients with the disease. Previous studies have confirmed that certain Chinese herbal extracts have clear anti-tumor effects, and in our preliminary study, betulinaldehyde was screened for its potential anti-tumor effects. The current study thus aimed to confirm the anti-tumor effect of betulinaldehyde, using in vitro experiments to explore its underlying molecular mechanism. It was found that betulinaldehyde treatment significantly inhibited the viability, proliferation, and migration of A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, betulinaldehyde inhibited the activation of Akt, MAPK, and STAT3 signaling pathways in A549 cells in a time-dependent manner. More importantly, betulinaldehyde also decreased the expression level of SQSTM1 protein, increased the expression level of LC3 II, and increased the autophagy flux in A549 cells. The pretreatment of A549 cells with the autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyladenine, could partially negate the anti-tumor effects of betulinaldehyde. These findings suggest that betulinaldehyde could significantly inhibit the oncological activity of A549 cells by regulating the intracellular autophagy level, making it a potentially effective option for the adjuvant therapy used to treat lung cancer in the future.

Details

Title
Betulinaldehyde exhibits effective anti-tumor effects in A549 cells by regulating intracellular autophagy
Author
Huang, Pan-hao 1 ; Duan, Xiang-bing 2 ; Tang, Zi-zhao 1 ; Zou, Zhen-xing 3 ; Song, Wen-min 1 ; Gao, Ge 2 ; Li, Dai 4 ; Nie, Fang-qin 1 ; Yan, Xin 1 ; Fu, Yang-xia 1 ; Guo, Ren 5 ; Xu, Yan-ying 6 

 Central South University, Department of Pharmacy, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164) 
 Central South University, Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164); Central South University, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Xiangya Medical School, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164) 
 Central South University, Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164) 
 Central South University, Phase I Clinical Research Center, Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164) 
 Central South University, Department of Pharmacy, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164); Central South University, Center of Clinical Pharmacology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164) 
 Central South University, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China (GRID:grid.216417.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 0379 7164) 
Pages
743
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2765250037
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.