OncoTargets and Therapy (Jan 2021)

ERK Activation-Mediated Autophagy Induction Resists Licochalcone A-Induced Anticancer Activities in Lung Cancer Cells in vitro

  • Luo W,
  • Sun R,
  • Chen X,
  • Li J,
  • Jiang J,
  • He Y,
  • Shi S,
  • Wen H

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 13437 – 13450

Abstract

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Wei Luo,1,* Ruifen Sun,2,* Xin Chen,3,* Ju Li,4 Jike Jiang,4 Yuxiao He,4 Shaoqing Shi,2 Heling Wen5 1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The People’s Hospital of Leshan, Leshan, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2Center for Scientific Research, Yunnan University of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China; 3College of Chinese Medicine, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China; 4College of Basic Medicine, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Cardiology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Heling WenDepartment of Cardiology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 32th West Second Section First Ring Road, Qingyang District, Chengdu, Sichuan 610072, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-28-87394174Email [email protected] ShiCenter for Scientific Research, Yunnan University of Chinese Traditional Medicine, No. 1076th Yuhua Road, Chenggong District, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-871-65918050Fax +86-871-65918049Email [email protected]: The incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer rank top in the different types of cancers in China. Licochalcone A (LA) is a flavonoid extracted from the roots of licorice with antitumor effects in various cancers in vitro and in vivo. However, the role of LA in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains largely unclear.Methods: The cell viability was measured by MTT assay, Edu staining and colony formation assay. Apoptosis was investigated using Annexin V/PI double-stained assays with flow cytometry. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was carried out to investigate the expression of mRNA of related proteins. Western blotting was used to investigate the expression of related proteins.Results: The results show that LA inhibits the proliferation of NSCLC cells in a dose-dependent manner and induces apoptotic cell death. Moreover, LA significantly suppresses the expression of c-IAP1, c-IAP2, XIAP, Survivin, c-FLIPL and RIP1 without influencing the level of mRNA. Cycloheximide chase assay demonstrates that LA greatly decreases the stability of Survivin, XIAP and RIP1. Mechanistic studies indicate that LA induces cytoprotective autophagy since block of autophagy with CQ greatly enhances LA-induced anticancer activities. Furthermore, LA rapidly induces ERK and p38 activation in a time-dependent manner in both A549 and H460 cells, but suppresses the activities of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK); suppression of ERK not p38 with inhibitor attenuates LA-induced autophagy, while it remarkably enhances LA-induced cytotoxicity in lung cancer cells and further promotes the degradation of apoptosis-related proteins.Discussion: The results of this study provide novel insights on the role of apoptosis-related proteins and the MAPKs pathway in the anticancer activities of LA.Keywords: non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC, licochalcone A, LA, inhibitors of apoptosis proteins, IAPs, RIP1, ERK, autophagy

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