Nature Communications (Jun 2020)

An alkaloid initiates phosphodiesterase 3A–schlafen 12 dependent apoptosis without affecting the phosphodiesterase activity

  • Youwei Ai,
  • Haibing He,
  • Peihao Chen,
  • Bo Yan,
  • Wenbin Zhang,
  • Zhangcheng Ding,
  • Dianrong Li,
  • Jie Chen,
  • Yan Ma,
  • Yang Cao,
  • Jie Zhu,
  • Jiaojiao Li,
  • Jinjie Ou,
  • Shan Du,
  • Xiaodong Wang,
  • Jianzhang Ma,
  • Shuanhu Gao,
  • Xiangbing Qi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17052-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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PDE3A modulators for cancer therapy cause serious side effects as they inhibit PDE3A phosphodiesterase activity, which is essential for the maturation of oocytes and the formation of platelets. Here, the authors identify a compound, nauclefine, that does not inhibit PDE3A activity but induces apoptosis by enabling a complex formation between PDE3A and SLFN12.