2. Academic Validation
  3. Natural product preferentially targets redox and metabolic adaptations and aberrantly active STAT3 to inhibit breast tumor growth in vivo

Natural product preferentially targets redox and metabolic adaptations and aberrantly active STAT3 to inhibit breast tumor growth in vivo

  • Cell Death Dis. 2022 Dec 6;13(12):1022. doi: 10.1038/s41419-022-05477-2.
Yinsong Zhu 1 2,  Peibin Yue 1 2,  Cody F Dickinson 3,  Justin K Yang 3,  Kyrstin Datanagan 3,  Ning Zhai 1 2,  Yi Zhang 4,  Gabriella Miklossy 5,  Francisco Lopez-Tapia 1 2,  Marcus A Tius 3 5,  James Turkson 6 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA.
  • 2 Cedars-Sinai Cancer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA.
  • 3 Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii, Manoa, 2545 McCarthy Mall, Honolulu, HI, 96825, USA.
  • 4 Biobank and Research Pathology Resource, Academic Affairs and Research Administration, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA.
  • 5 Cancer Biology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
  • 6 Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA. [email protected].
  • 7 Cedars-Sinai Cancer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA. [email protected].
PMID: 36473850 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-022-05477-2
Abstract

Dysregulated gene expression programs and redox and metabolic adaptations allow Cancer cells to survive under high oxidative burden. These mechanisms also represent therapeutic vulnerabilities. Using triple-negative breast Cancer (TNBC) as a model, we show that compared to normal human breast epithelial cells, the TNBC cells, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 that harbor constitutively active STAT3 also express higher glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR)1, NADPH, and GSH levels for survival. Present studies discover that the natural product, R001, targets these adaptation mechanisms. Treatment of TNBC cells with R001 inhibited constitutively active STAT3, STAT3-regulated gene expression, and the functions of G6PD and TrxR1. Consequently, in the TNBC, but not normal cells, R001 suppressed GSH levels, but raised NADPH levels, reflective of a loss of mitochondrial respiration and which led to Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) induction, all of which led to loss of viable cells and inhibition of anchorage-dependent and independent growth. R001 treatment further led to early Pyroptosis and late DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and Apoptosis only in the TNBC cells. Oral administration of 5 mg/kg R001 inhibited MDA-MB-468 xenografts growth in mice, with reduced pY705-STAT3, G6PD, TrxR1, and GSH levels. R001 serves as a therapeutic entity that targets the vulnerabilities of TNBC cells to inhibit tumor growth in vivo.

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