AMPK-autophagy inhibition sensitizes icaritin-induced anti-colorectal cancer cell activity

作者：Zhou, Chunxian; Gu, Jun; Zhang, Gang; Dong, Da; Yang, Qunying; Chen, Min-Bin^*; Xu, Dongfeng^*

来源：Oncotarget, 2017, 8(9): 14736-14747.

DOI：10.18632/oncotarget.14718

• colorectal cancer
• icaritin
• autophagy
• AMPK
• chemosensitization

The current research studied the potential effect of autophagy on icaritin-induced anti-colorectal cancer (CRC) cell activity. Treatment of icaritin in both primary and established (HT-29) CRC cells induced feedback activation of autophagy, evidenced by p62 degradation, Beclin-1 and autophagy-related gene-5 (ATG-5) upregulation, as well as light chain 3B (LC3B)-GFP puncta formation. Pharmacological inhibiting of autophagy dramatically potentiated icaritin-induced CRC cell death and apoptosis. Meanwhile, shRNA-mediated knockdown of Beclin-1 or ATG-5 also sensitized icaritin-induced CRC cell death and apoptosis. Icaritin activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling in CRC cells, functioning as the upstream signaling for autophagy activation. shRNA/siRNA-mediated knockdown of AMPKa1inhibited icaritin-induced autophagy activation, but exacerbated CRC cell death. On the other hand, the AMPK activator compound 13 (C13) or the autophagy activator MHY1485 attenuated icaritin-induced cytotoxicity. In nude mice, icaritin (oral administration)-induced HT-29 tumor growth inhibition was potentiated when combined with AMPKa1 shRNA knockdown in tumors. We conclude that feedback activation of AMPK-autophagy pathway could be a primary resistance factor of icaritin.

• 出版日期2017-2-28
• 单位南通大学; 江苏大学; 苏州大学