Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway
Cudraflavone C (Cud C) is a naturally-occurring flavonol with reported anti-proliferative activities. However, the mechanisms by which Cud C induced cytotoxicity have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the effects of Cud C on cell proliferation, caspase activation andapoptosis inducti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41232/ |
| _version_ | 1848801179612479488 |
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| author | Castresana, Javier S. Soo, Hsien-Chuen Chung, Felicia Fei-Lei Lim, Kuan-Hon Yap, Veronica Alicia Bradshaw, Tracey D. Hii, Ling-Wei Tan, Si-Hoey See, Sze-Jia Tan, Yuen-Fen Leong, Chee-Onn Mai, Chun-Wai |
| author_facet | Castresana, Javier S. Soo, Hsien-Chuen Chung, Felicia Fei-Lei Lim, Kuan-Hon Yap, Veronica Alicia Bradshaw, Tracey D. Hii, Ling-Wei Tan, Si-Hoey See, Sze-Jia Tan, Yuen-Fen Leong, Chee-Onn Mai, Chun-Wai |
| author_sort | Castresana, Javier S. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Cudraflavone C (Cud C) is a naturally-occurring flavonol with reported anti-proliferative activities. However, the mechanisms by which Cud C induced cytotoxicity have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the effects of Cud C on cell proliferation, caspase activation andapoptosis induction in colorectal cancer cells (CRC). We show that Cud C inhibits cell proliferation in KM12, Caco-2, HT29, HCC2998, HCT116 and SW48 CRC but not in the non-transformed colorectal epithelial cells, CCD CoN 841. Cud C induces tumorselective apoptosis via mitochondrial depolarization and activation of the intrinsic caspase pathway. Gene expression profiling by microarray analyses revealed that tumor suppressor genes EGR1, HUWE1 and SMG1 were significantly up-regulated while oncogenes such as MYB1, CCNB1 and GPX2 were down-regulated following treatment with Cud C. Further analyses using Connectivity Map revealed that Cud C induced a gene signature highly similar to that of protein synthesis inhibitors and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT inhibitors, suggesting that Cud C might inhibit PI3K-AKT signaling. A luminescent cell free PI3K lipid kinase assay revealed that Cud C significantly inhibited p110β/p85α PI3K activity, followed by p120γ, p110δ/p85α, and p110α/p85α PI3K activities. The inhibition by Cud C on p110β/p85α PI3K activity was comparable to LY-294002, a known PI3K inhibitor. Cud C also inhibited phosphorylation of AKT independent of NFκB activity in CRC cells, while ectopic expression of myristoylated AKT completely abrogated the anti-proliferative effects, and apoptosis induced by Cud C in CRC. These findings demonstrate that Cud C induces tumor-selective cytotoxicity by targeting the PI3K-AKT pathway. These findings provide novel insights into the mechanism of action of Cud C, and indicate that Cud C further development of Cud C derivatives as potential therapeutic agents is warranted. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:44:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-41232 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T21:03:21Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-412322025-09-09T14:03:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41232/ Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway Castresana, Javier S. Soo, Hsien-Chuen Chung, Felicia Fei-Lei Lim, Kuan-Hon Yap, Veronica Alicia Bradshaw, Tracey D. Hii, Ling-Wei Tan, Si-Hoey See, Sze-Jia Tan, Yuen-Fen Leong, Chee-Onn Mai, Chun-Wai Cudraflavone C (Cud C) is a naturally-occurring flavonol with reported anti-proliferative activities. However, the mechanisms by which Cud C induced cytotoxicity have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the effects of Cud C on cell proliferation, caspase activation andapoptosis induction in colorectal cancer cells (CRC). We show that Cud C inhibits cell proliferation in KM12, Caco-2, HT29, HCC2998, HCT116 and SW48 CRC but not in the non-transformed colorectal epithelial cells, CCD CoN 841. Cud C induces tumorselective apoptosis via mitochondrial depolarization and activation of the intrinsic caspase pathway. Gene expression profiling by microarray analyses revealed that tumor suppressor genes EGR1, HUWE1 and SMG1 were significantly up-regulated while oncogenes such as MYB1, CCNB1 and GPX2 were down-regulated following treatment with Cud C. Further analyses using Connectivity Map revealed that Cud C induced a gene signature highly similar to that of protein synthesis inhibitors and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT inhibitors, suggesting that Cud C might inhibit PI3K-AKT signaling. A luminescent cell free PI3K lipid kinase assay revealed that Cud C significantly inhibited p110β/p85α PI3K activity, followed by p120γ, p110δ/p85α, and p110α/p85α PI3K activities. The inhibition by Cud C on p110β/p85α PI3K activity was comparable to LY-294002, a known PI3K inhibitor. Cud C also inhibited phosphorylation of AKT independent of NFκB activity in CRC cells, while ectopic expression of myristoylated AKT completely abrogated the anti-proliferative effects, and apoptosis induced by Cud C in CRC. These findings demonstrate that Cud C induces tumor-selective cytotoxicity by targeting the PI3K-AKT pathway. These findings provide novel insights into the mechanism of action of Cud C, and indicate that Cud C further development of Cud C derivatives as potential therapeutic agents is warranted. Public Library of Science 2017-01-20 Article PeerReviewed Castresana, Javier S., Soo, Hsien-Chuen, Chung, Felicia Fei-Lei, Lim, Kuan-Hon, Yap, Veronica Alicia, Bradshaw, Tracey D., Hii, Ling-Wei, Tan, Si-Hoey, See, Sze-Jia, Tan, Yuen-Fen, Leong, Chee-Onn and Mai, Chun-Wai (2017) Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway. PLoS ONE, 12 (1). e0170551/1-e0170551/20. ISSN 1932-6203 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0170551 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170551 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170551 |
| spellingShingle | Castresana, Javier S. Soo, Hsien-Chuen Chung, Felicia Fei-Lei Lim, Kuan-Hon Yap, Veronica Alicia Bradshaw, Tracey D. Hii, Ling-Wei Tan, Si-Hoey See, Sze-Jia Tan, Yuen-Fen Leong, Chee-Onn Mai, Chun-Wai Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway |
| title | Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway |
| title_full | Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway |
| title_fullStr | Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway |
| title_short | Cudraflavone C induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway |
| title_sort | cudraflavone c induces tumor-specific apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (pi3k)-akt pathway |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41232/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41232/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41232/ |