Preclinical evaluation of Mito-LND, a targeting mitochondrial metabolism inhibitor, for glioblastoma treatment

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a brain tumor with the highest level of malignancy and the worst prognosis in the central nervous system. Mitochondrial metabolism plays a vital role in the occurrence and development of cancer, which provides critical substances to support tumor anabolism. Mito-LND is a novel small-molecule inhibitor that can selectively inhibit the energy metabolism of tumor cells. However, the therapeutic effect of Mito-LND on GBM remains unclear. METHODS: The present study evaluated the inhibitory effect of Mito-LND on the growth of GBM cells and elucidated its potential mechanism. RESULTS: The results showed that Mito-LND could inhibit the survival, proliferation and colony formation of GBM cells. Moreover, Mito-LND induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Mechanistically, Mito-LND inhibited the activity of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, thus promoting ROS generation. Importantly, Mito-LND could inhibit the malignant proliferation of GBM by blocking the Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway. In vivo experiments showed that Mito-LND inhibited the growth of GBM xenografts in mice and significantly prolonged the survival time of tumor-bearing mice. CONCLUSION: Taken together, the current findings support that targeting mitochondrial metabolism may be as a potential and promising strategy for GBM therapy, which will lay the theoretical foundation for further clinical trials on Mito-LND in the future. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-023-04332-y.