Abstract
Toxicarioside N (Tox N), a natural product extract from Antiaris toxicaria, has been reported to induce apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells. However, the mechanism and actual role of autophagy in Tox N-induced apoptosis of human gastric cancer cells remains poorly understood. In the current study, we demonstrated that Tox N could induce autophagy by inhibiting the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in SGC-7901 cells. Moreover, we found that the inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyladenine, an autophagy inhibitor, enhanced Tox N-induced apoptotic cell death. However, the stimulation of autophagy by rapamycin, an autophagy activator, remarkably suppressed Tox N-induced apoptosis, suggesting that autophagy plays a protective role in Tox N-induced apoptosis. Thus, the results from this study suggested that Tox N combination with an autophagy inhibitor might be a promising strategy to enhance the anticancer activity of Tox N for the treatment of human gastric cancer.
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The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, Project Nos 81560484 and 81460557, Hainan province natural science foundation of China, Project No. 817147.
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Zhao, HG., Zhou, SL., Lin, YY. et al. Autophagy plays a protective role against apoptosis induced by toxicarioside N via the Akt/mTOR pathway in human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. Arch. Pharm. Res. 41, 986–994 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-018-1049-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-018-1049-8