Many natural compounds derived from plants or microbes show promising potential for anticancer treatment, but few have been found to target energy-relevant regulators. In this study, we report that neoalbaconol (NA), a novel small-molecular compound isolated from the fungus, Albatrellus confluens, could target 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) and inhibit its downstream phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3-K)/Akt-hexokinase 2 (HK2) pathway, which eventually resulted in energy depletion. By targeting PDK1, NA reduced the consumption of glucose and ATP generation, activated autophagy and caused apoptotic and necroptotic death of cancer cells through independent pathway. Necroptosis was remarkably induced, which was confirmed by several necroptosis-specific markers: the activation of autophagy, presence of necrotic morphology, increase of receptor-interacting protein 1 (RIP1)/RIP3 colocalization and interaction and rescued by necroptosis inhibitor necrostatin-1. The possibility that Akt overexpression reversed the NA-induced energy crisis confirmed the importance of the PDK1-Akt-energy pathway in NA-mediated cell death. Moreover, NA shows the capability to inhibit PI3-K/Akt signaling and suppress tumor growth in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) nude mouse model. These results supported the feasibility of NA in anticancer treatments.

Previous study revealed that the protective effect of TIGAR in cell survival is mediated through the increase in PPP (pentose phosphate pathway) flux. However, it remains unexplored if TIGAR plays an important role in DNA damage and repair. This study investigated the role of TIGAR in DNA damage response (DDR) induced by genotoxic drugs and hypoxia in tumor cells. Results showed that TIGAR was increased and relocated to the nucleus after epirubicin or hypoxia treatment in cancer cells. Knockdown of TIGAR exacerbated DNA damage and the effects were partly reversed by the supplementation of PPP products NADPH, ribose, or the ROS scavenger NAC. Further studies with pharmacological and genetic approaches revealed that TIGAR regulated the phosphorylation of ATM, a key protein in DDR, through Cdk5. The Cdk5-AMT signal pathway involved in regulation of DDR by TIGAR defines a new role of TIGAR in cancer cell survival and it suggests that TIGAR may be a therapeutic target for cancers.

Necroptosis/regulated necrosis is a caspase-independent, but receptor interacting protein kinase (RIPK)-dependent form of cell death. In previous studies, neoalbaconol (NA), a constituent extracted from Albatrellus confluens, was demonstrated to induce necroptosis in some cancer cell lines. The molecular mechanism of NA-induced necroptosis is described in this research study. We determined that NA-induced cell death is partly dependent on tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) feed-forward signaling. More importantly, NA abolished the ubiquitination of RIPK1 by down-regulating E3 ubiquitin ligases, cellular inhibitors of apoptosis protein 1/2 (cIAP1/2) and TNFα receptor-associated factors (TRAFs). The suppression of RIPK1 ubiquitination induced the activation of the non-canonical nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway and stimulated the transcription of TNFα. Moreover, we also found that NA caused RIPK3-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and contribution to cell death. Taken together, these results suggested that two distinct mechanisms are involved in NA-induced necroptosis and include RIPK1/NF-κB-dependent expression of TNFα and RIPK3-dependent generation of ROS.