Wentilactone A as a novel potential antitumor agent induces apoptosis and G2/M arrest of human lung carcinoma cells, and is mediated by HRas-GTP accumulation to excessively activate the Ras/Raf/ERK/p53-p21 pathway

Chemotherapy remains the common therapeutic for patients with lung cancer. Novel, selective antitumor agents are pressingly needed. This study is the first to investigate a different, however, effective antitumor drug candidate Wentilactone A (WA) for its development as a novel agent. In NCI-H460 and NCI-H446 cell lines, WA triggered G2/M phase arrest and mitochondrial-related apoptosis, accompanying the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). It also induced activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase and p53 and increased expression of p21. When we pre-treated cells with ERK, JNK, p38, p53 inhibitor or NAC followed by WA treatment, only ERK and p53 inhibitors blocked WA-induced apoptosis and G2/M arrest. We further observed Ras (HRas, KRas and NRas) and Raf activation, and found that WA treatment increased HRas–Raf activation. Knockdown of HRas by using small interfering RNA (siRNA) abolished WA-induced apoptosis and G2/M arrest. HRas siRNA also halted Raf, ERK, p53 activation and p21 accumulation. Molecular docking analysis suggested that WA could bind to HRas-GTP, causing accumulation of Ras-GTP and excessive activation of Raf/ERK/p53-p21. The direct binding affinity was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In vivo, WA suppressed tumor growth without adverse toxicity and presented the same mechanism as that in vitro. Taken together, these findings suggest WA as a promising novel, potent and selective antitumor drug candidate for lung cancer.