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The pentacyclic triterpenoid, plectranthoic acid, a novel activator of AMPK induces apoptotic death in prostate cancer cells
Epidemiologic studies indicated that diabetics treated with metformin had a lower incidence of cancer than those taking other anti-diabetes drugs. This led to a surge in the efforts for identification of safer and more effective metformin mimetic compounds. The plant Ficus microcarpa is widely used...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Impact Journals LLC
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4826172/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26683363 http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.6625 |
Sumario: | Epidemiologic studies indicated that diabetics treated with metformin had a lower incidence of cancer than those taking other anti-diabetes drugs. This led to a surge in the efforts for identification of safer and more effective metformin mimetic compounds. The plant Ficus microcarpa is widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in traditional medicine in South Asia. We obtained extracts from this plant and identified a small molecule, plectranthoic acid (PA), with potent 5′AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) activating properties far superior than metformin. AMPK is the central hub of metabolic regulation and a well-studied therapeutic target for metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes and cancer. We observed that treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) cells with PA inhibited proliferation and induced G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest that was associated with up-regulation of cyclin kinase inhibitors p21/CIP1 and p27/KIP1. PA treatment suppressed mTOR/S6K signaling and induced apoptosis in PCa cells in an AMPK-dependent manner. Interestingly, PA-induced autophagy in PCa cells was found to be independent of AMPK activation. Combination studies of PA and metformin demonstrated that metformin had an inhibitory effect on PA-induced AMPK activation and suppressed PA-mediated apoptosis. Given the anti-proliferative role of PA in cancer and its potent anti-hyperglycemic activity, we suggest that PA should be explored further as a novel activator of AMPK for its ultimate use for the prevention of cancers and treatment of type 2 diabetes. |
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