The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common potentially lethal human malignancies worldwide. Advanced or recurrent HCC is frequently resistant to conventional chemotherapeutic agents and radiation. Therefore, targeted agents with tolerable toxicity are mandatory to improve HCC therapy a...

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Main Authors: Simioni, Carolina, Martelli, Alberto M., Cani, Alice, Cetin-Atalay, Rengul, McCubrey, James A., Capitani, Silvano, Neri, Luca M.
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Impact Journals LLC 2013
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824526/
id pubmed-3824526
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-38245262013-11-22 The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy Simioni, Carolina Martelli, Alberto M. Cani, Alice Cetin-Atalay, Rengul McCubrey, James A. Capitani, Silvano Neri, Luca M. Research Paper Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common potentially lethal human malignancies worldwide. Advanced or recurrent HCC is frequently resistant to conventional chemotherapeutic agents and radiation. Therefore, targeted agents with tolerable toxicity are mandatory to improve HCC therapy and prognosis. In this neoplasia, the PI3K/Akt signaling network has been frequently shown to be aberrantly up-regulated. To evaluate whether Akt could represent a target for treatment of HCC, we studied the effects of the allosteric Akt inhibitor, MK-2206, on a panel of HCC cell lines characterized by different levels of Akt-1 activation. The inhibitor decreased cell viability and induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, with a higher efficacy in cells with hyperphosphorylated Akt-1. Moreover, MK-2206 induced apoptosis, as documented by Annexin V labeling, and also caused autophagy, as evidenced by increased levels of the autophagy marker LC3A/B. Autophagy was shown to be a protective mechanism against MK-2206 cytotoxicity. MK-2206 down-regulated, in a concentration-dependent manner, the phosphorylation levels of Akt-1 synergizedand its downstream targets, GSK3 α/β and FOXO3A. MK-2206 synergized with doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic drug widely used for HCC treatment. Our findings suggest that the use of Akt inhibitors, either alone or in combination with doxorubicin, may be considered as an attractive therapeutic regimen for the treatment of HCC. Impact Journals LLC 2013-08-24 /pmc/articles/PMC3824526/ /pubmed/24036604 Text en Copyright: © 2013 Simioni et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Simioni, Carolina
Martelli, Alberto M.
Cani, Alice
Cetin-Atalay, Rengul
McCubrey, James A.
Capitani, Silvano
Neri, Luca M.
spellingShingle Simioni, Carolina
Martelli, Alberto M.
Cani, Alice
Cetin-Atalay, Rengul
McCubrey, James A.
Capitani, Silvano
Neri, Luca M.
The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy
author_facet Simioni, Carolina
Martelli, Alberto M.
Cani, Alice
Cetin-Atalay, Rengul
McCubrey, James A.
Capitani, Silvano
Neri, Luca M.
author_sort Simioni, Carolina
title The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy
title_short The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy
title_full The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy
title_fullStr The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy
title_full_unstemmed The AKT Inhibitor MK-2206 is Cytotoxic in Hepatocarcinoma Cells Displaying Hyperphosphorylated AKT-1 and Synergizes with Conventional Chemotherapy
title_sort akt inhibitor mk-2206 is cytotoxic in hepatocarcinoma cells displaying hyperphosphorylated akt-1 and synergizes with conventional chemotherapy
description Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common potentially lethal human malignancies worldwide. Advanced or recurrent HCC is frequently resistant to conventional chemotherapeutic agents and radiation. Therefore, targeted agents with tolerable toxicity are mandatory to improve HCC therapy and prognosis. In this neoplasia, the PI3K/Akt signaling network has been frequently shown to be aberrantly up-regulated. To evaluate whether Akt could represent a target for treatment of HCC, we studied the effects of the allosteric Akt inhibitor, MK-2206, on a panel of HCC cell lines characterized by different levels of Akt-1 activation. The inhibitor decreased cell viability and induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, with a higher efficacy in cells with hyperphosphorylated Akt-1. Moreover, MK-2206 induced apoptosis, as documented by Annexin V labeling, and also caused autophagy, as evidenced by increased levels of the autophagy marker LC3A/B. Autophagy was shown to be a protective mechanism against MK-2206 cytotoxicity. MK-2206 down-regulated, in a concentration-dependent manner, the phosphorylation levels of Akt-1 synergizedand its downstream targets, GSK3 α/β and FOXO3A. MK-2206 synergized with doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic drug widely used for HCC treatment. Our findings suggest that the use of Akt inhibitors, either alone or in combination with doxorubicin, may be considered as an attractive therapeutic regimen for the treatment of HCC.
publisher Impact Journals LLC
publishDate 2013
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824526/
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