Targeting AKT with costunolide suppresses the growth of colorectal cancer cells and induces apoptosis in vitro and in vivo

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a clinically challenging malignant tumor worldwide. As a natural product and sesquiterpene lactone, Costunolide (CTD) has been reported to possess anticancer activities. However, the regulation mechanism and precise target of this substance remain undiscovered in CRC. In this study, we found that CTD inhibited CRC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo by targeting AKT. METHODS: Effects of CTD on colon cancer cell growth in vitro were evaluated in cell proliferation assays, migration and invasion, propidium iodide, and annexin V-staining analyses. Targets of CTD were identified utilizing phosphoprotein-specific antibody array; Costunolide-sepharose conjugated bead pull-down analysis and knockdown techniques. We investigated the underlying mechanisms of CTD by ubiquitination, immunofluorescence staining, and western blot assays. Cell-derived tumour xenografts (CDX) in nude mice and immunohistochemistry were used to assess anti-tumour effects of CTD in vivo. RESULTS: CTD suppressed the proliferation, anchorage-independent colony growth and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) of CRC cells including HCT-15, HCT-116 and DLD1. Besides, the CTD also triggered cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. The CTD activates and induces p53 stability by inhibiting MDM2 ubiquitination via the suppression of AKT’s phosphorylation in vitro. The CTD suppresses cell growth in a p53-independent fashion manner; p53 activation may contribute to the anticancer activity of CTD via target AKT. Finally, the CTD decreased the volume of CDX tumors without of the body weight loss and reduced the expression of AKT-MDM2-p53 signaling pathway in xenograft tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Our project has uncovered the mechanism underlying the biological activity of CTD in colon cancer and confirmed the AKT is a directly target of CTD. All of which These results revealed that CTD might be a new AKT inhibitor in colon cancer treatment, and CTD is worthy of further exploration in preclinical and clinical trials. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13046-021-01895-w.