Novel mechanism of napabucasin, a naturally derived furanonaphthoquinone: apoptosis and autophagy induction in lung cancer cells through direct targeting on Akt/mTOR proteins

BACKGROUND: Akt and mTOR are aberrantly activated in cancers and targeting these proteins are interesting for cancer drug discovery. Napabucasin (NB), a phytochemical compound, has been reported as potential anti-cancer agent, however, Akt and mTOR targeting mechanisms remain unclear. METHOD: Apoptosis induction was investigated by Hoechst 33342/PI double staining and annexin V/PI staining with flowcytometry. Autophagy was evaluated by monodansylcadaverine staining and Western blot analysis. Binding affinity of NB and essential signaling proteins (PI3K, Akt, and mTOR) was investigated using molecular docking and confirmed by Western blot analysis. RESULT: A structure modification from changing methyl moiety of acetyl group of NB to hydroxyl moiety of carboxyl group of NB derivative (napabucasin-acid or NB-acid) greatly affected the compound activities. NB showed more potent anti-cancer activity. NB reduced cell viability with an approximately 20 times lower IC(50) and inhibited the colony formation capacity much more than NB-acid treated cells. NB induced cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by decrease Bcl‑2 and Mcl-1 and clevage of PARP, while NB-acid show lesser effect on Mcl-1. NB was found to strongly induce autophagy indicated by acidic vesicle staining and the LC3B conversion. Interestingly, computational molecular docking analysis further demonstrated that NB directly bound to Akt and mTOR (complex 1 and 2) proteins at their critical sites indicating that NB targets the upstream regulators of apoptosis and autophagy. The docking results were confirmed by decrease of p-Akt/Akt, p-mTOR/mTOR, and c-Myc a downstream target of Akt protein levels. CONCLUSION: Results show for the first time that NB exerts an anti-cancer activity through the direct interaction to Akt and mTOR proteins. The methyl moiety of acetyl group of NB is required for its potent anti-cancer activities. These data encourage further development of NB compounds for Akt and mTOR driven cancers. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12906-022-03727-6.