Continuing our studies on NO-donating ursolic acid-benzylidene derivatives as potential antitumor agents, we designed and synthesized a series of new arylidene derivatives containing NO-donating ursolic acid and aromatic heterocyclic units.Compounds 5c and 6c showed a significant broad-spectrum antitumor activity.Compound 5c exhibited nearly three-to nine-fold higher cytotoxicity as compared with the parent drug in A549, MCF-7, HepG-2, HT-29, and HeLa cells, and it was also found to be the most potent apoptosis inducer of MCF-7 cells. More importantly, compound 5c arrested the MCF-7 cell cycle in the G1 phase, which was associated with caspase activation and a decrease of the Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Meanwhile, compound 5c caused changes in morphological features, dissipation of the mitochondrial membrane potential, and accumulation of reactive oxygen species. A docking study revealed that the nitroxyethyl moiety of compound 5c may form hydrogen bonds with caspase-8 amino acid residues (SER256 and HIS255). Together, these data suggest that NO-donating ursolic acid-arylidene derivatives are potent apoptosis inducers in tumor cells.antitumor activity, apoptosis inducer, NO donor prodrug, ursolic acid derivatives
| INTRODUCTIONApoptosis (also called programmed cell death) was described to perform various functions in development. [1] It plays an important role not only in embryogenesis but also in the regulation of cell numbers and the elimination of unwanted cells. The previous literature pointed out that irregularity in apoptosis may cause a number of human diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders, immunodeficiency, AIDS, and cancer. [2][3][4] Subsequent studies confirmed that apoptosis is one of the major pathways involved in the proliferation, migration, and invasion of tumor cells. Most of the cytotoxic compounds were reported to induce apoptosis in cancer cells. The developments of apoptosis inducers have become effective methods for cancer therapy. [5,6] In general, there is a balance between apoptosis and proliferation in normal cells. [7] The balance depends on the Bcl-2/Bax ratio. It is worth noting that high levels of Bcl-2/Bax ratio may increase the risk of cancer. An excess of Bcl-2 promotes migration and invasion of tumor cells. [8] Morphological alterations, including cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, and nuclear fragmentation, are important features of tumor cell apoptosis. [9] It has been proved that most of the morphological changes are caused by caspase family proteases. Caspases are divided into three subfamilies, I (caspase-2, -8, -9, and -10),