Apo-10′-lycopenoic acid inhibits lung cancer cell growth in vitro, and suppresses lung tumorigenesis in the A/J mouse model in vivo

Abstract

High intake of lycopene has been associated with a lower risk of a variety of cancers including lung cancer. We recently showed that lycopene can be converted to apo-10'-lycopenoids [Hu et al. (2006). J. Biol. Chem., 281, 19327-19338] in mammalian tissues both in vitro and in vivo, raising the question of whether apo-10'-lycopenoids have biological activities against lung carcinogenesis. In the present study, we report that apo-10'-lycopenoic acid inhibited the growth of NHBE normal human bronchial epithelial cells, BEAS-2B-immortalized normal bronchial epithelial cells and A549 non-small cell lung cancer cells. This inhibitory effect of apo-10'-lycopenoic acid was associated with decreased cyclin E, inhibition of cell cycle progression from G(1) to S phase and increased cell cycle regulators p21 and p27 protein levels. In addition, apo-10'-lycopenoic acid transactivated the retinoic acid receptor beta (RARbeta) promoter and induced the expression of RARbeta. We further examined the effect of apo-10'-lycopenoic acid treatment on 4-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridal)-1-butanone (NNK)-induced lung tumorigenesis in the A/J mouse model. We found that the lung tumor multiplicity was decreased dose dependently from an average of 16 tumors per mouse in the NNK injection alone group, to an average of 10, 7 and 5 tumors per mouse in groups injected with NNK and supplemented with 10, 40 and 120 mg/kg diet of apo-10'-lycopenoic acid, respectively. These observations demonstrate that apo-10'-lycopenoic acid is a biological active metabolite of lycopene and suggest that apo-10'-lycopenoic acid is a potential chemopreventive agent against lung tumorigenesis.

Mitochondrial β-Carotene 9′,10′ Oxygenase Modulates Prostate Cancer Growth via NF-κB Inhibition: A Lycopene-Independent Function

“…The lycopene metabolite, apo-10'-lycopenoic acid, inhibits lung cancer cell growth in vitro and suppress murine lung tumorigenesis in vivo (43). More recently, supraphysiologic concentrations of apo-12'-lycopenal were shown to inhibit androgen-resistant prostate cancer cell growth (10,19).…”

Multitargeted therapy of cancer by lycopene

“…In studies with the lycopene degradation product apo-10'-lycopenoic acid at concentrations from 0.5 to 10 µM, Lian et al [37] observed that the growth of the human non-small cell lung cancer cell line A549 was arrested at the G1/S phase with decreased levels of cyclin E and increased levels of the cell cycle regulatory proteins p21 and p27. Antiproliferative effects of lycopene without details regarding the mechanism of action have also been reported for the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 [38], rat prostate cancer AT3 cells [39], primary human prostate epithelial cells [40], the human erythroleukemia cell line K562, Raji cells, and human colon cancer HuCC cells [33].…”

Inhibition of colon cancer cell growth by nanoemulsion carrying gold nanoparticles and lycopene

“…[14][15][16] Accumulating evidence suggests the potentiality of LP for targeting cancer therapy as an anticancer agent. However, the extreme instability and poor bioavailability of LP may limit its application in cancer therapy.…”