Cancer cells, characterized by genetic mutations or various other causes, dysregulation of the cell cycle and undergo functional changes, leading to excessive proliferation. Cancer cells metastasize to various parts of the body, including organs, bone...
Cancer cells, characterized by genetic mutations or various other causes, dysregulation of the cell cycle and undergo functional changes, leading to excessive proliferation. Cancer cells metastasize to various parts of the body, including organs, bones, blood, and skin, destroying normal cells and causing them to lose their function, leading to complications and ultimately death. The incidence and mortality rates of cancer are steadily increasing, with lung cancer having the highest mortality rate. Lung cancer can develop for a variety of reasons, and the lungs lack sensory nerves, making early detection challenging. Consequently, lung cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, making resection difficult. Chemotherapy, at this stage, is the only treatment available, not a cure, but rather a life-prolonging treatment. For these reasons, this study aimed to explore lung cancer treatments.
Among 1,700 drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we screened for drugs with anticancer activity against the lung cancer cell line A549 and selected active samples, with Vorapaxar Sulfate as the final sample.
Experiments were conducted to determine the antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity, and mechanism of action of Vorapaxar Sulfate. Compared to the positive control group, antioxidant activity was lower. Given the nature of anticancer drugs, high antioxidant activity can impede their effectiveness, so lower antioxidant activity is advantageous for anticancer activity.
To confirm anticancer activity, MTT reduction assay, LDH release assay, colony formation assay, morphological analysis, and Hoechst 33342 staining were performed. As a result, cell viability decreased in a concentration-dependent manner, and cell morphology was observed to include a decrease in volume, nuclear condensation, and increased fluorescence.
Western blot was performed to determine the effect of Vorapaxar Sulfate on the A549 cell cycle. The expression of Rb protein and TopoⅡα protein was confirmed. Rb protein is mainly expressed in the G1 phase and is divided into hypo phosphorylation (p-Rb) and hyper phosphorylation (pp-Rb) forms. The p-Rb form binds to E2F/DP and acts to prevent the transition to S phase, but the binding is broken by the cyclin/CDK complex activated in cancer cells, causing E2F/DP to transition the cell cycle, and p-Rb becomes pp-Rb and loses its tumor suppressor function. Based on this, when Rb expression was confirmed, Rb expression was down regulation at 100 μM, and the expression of pp-Rb was up regulation a concentration of 5-50 μM.
TopoⅡα is a protein expressed throughout the S and G2/M phases and plays a role in DNA replication. TopoⅡα can be expressed as a truncated form smaller than its original size of 170 kDa by proteins expressed in apoptosis. At 100 μM, TopoⅡα expression was down regulation, while the expression of the truncated form up regulation. At concentrations of 5–50 μM, expression of both TopoⅡα and its truncated form was up regulated. At a concentration of 100 μM, protein expression was inhibited due to cell death, while at concentrations of 5–50 μM, protein expression was up regulated. However, given the decreased survival observed in previous experiments, this could be interpreted as an increased expression due to a stress response induced by cell cycle arrest.
Vorapaxar Sulfate exhibits anticancer activity against A549 lung cancer cells, and was confirmed to act across a broad range of cell cycles throughout the G1-M phase, inducing cell cycle arrest, decreased proliferation, and apoptosis. Based on this, this study suggests the potential of Vorapaxar Sulfate as a lung cancer treatment.