Frontiers in Pharmacology (Oct 2022)

Matrine, a potential c-Myc inhibitor, suppresses ribosome biogenesis and nucleotide metabolism in myeloid leukemia

  • Wang-Jing Zhong,
  • Lingdi Ma,
  • Lingdi Ma,
  • Fanfan Yang,
  • Jialin Cao,
  • Junyu Tan,
  • Bohong Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1027441
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Previous studies have shown that matrine, a natural compound extracted from the herb Sophora flavescens, has a good anti-leukemia effect, but its key target and mechanism remains unclear. Here, we found that only c-Myc could respond rapidly to matrine treatment in three myeloid leukemia cell lines, and matrine inhibited both transcription and translation of c-Myc. Ribosome biogenesis and nucleotide metabolism, the key downstream of c-Myc, were significantly suppressed after matrine treatment. Therefore, our results confirmed that matrine is a special c-Myc inhibitor which suppresses ribosome biogenesis and nucleotide metabolism by inhibiting c-Myc in myeloid leukemia. This study provides scientific basis for the development of matrine derivatives to c-Myc-driven cancers.

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