Autophagy regulates vinorelbine sensitivity due to continued Keap1-mediated ROS generation in lung adenocarcinoma cells

Autophagy is one of the induced mechanisms in metastatic cancer to escape death due to starvation, hypoxia, metabolic stresses, chemotherapy, and radiation. Some publications have revealed that chemotherapy combined with autophagy inhibitor will overcome drug resistance. We modified AS2 cells with PTEN overexpression, mTOR knockdown, or Keap1 knockdown, and made modification of A549 cells with PTEN knockdown, Atg5 knockdown, and Keap1 overexpression. Our study was aimed toward an exploration of how autophagy modulates Keap1, ROS generation, and vinorelbine-induced apoptosis in these cell lines. We found that lung cancer PC14PE6/AS2 (AS2) had higher mTOR and Akt and also lower PTEN expression than A549 cells. Descended autophagy was demonstrated with more decreased p62 accumulation and LC3 II conversion in AS2 cells as compared to A549 cells. The A549 cells had lower Keap1/Nrf2 and more active anti-oxidant response element (ARE) activity than the AS2 cells. We modified AS2 cells with PTEN overexpression, mTOR knockdown, Keap1 knockdown, and revealed amplified p62 and LC3 expression accompanied with decreased Akt, Keap1, ROS, and vinorelbine-induced apoptosis. Declined p62, LC3 expression were accompanied with increased Akt, Keap1, ROS, and vinorelbine-induced apoptosis after modification of A549 cells with PTEN knockdown, Atg5 knockdown, and Keap1 overexpression. Keap1 overexpression lowered ARE levels in A549 cells, and ARE level exhibited up-growth in Keap1 knockdown AS2 cells. The autophagy inhibitor caused more ROS generation and vinorelbine-induced apoptosis in the A549 and CL1-5 cells. According to these findings, autophagy regulates vinorelbine sensitivity by continuing Keap1-mediated ROS generation in lung adenocarcinoma cells.