AI Article Synopsis

  • Usenamine A is a new medicine that might help treat liver cancer, which is hard to treat and often doesn't respond well to drugs.
  • Tests showed that Usenamine A stops cancer cells from growing and affects certain genes in a way that fights cancer.
  • In experiments with mice, Usenamine A was mostly safe and didn’t harm them much, making it a promising option for treating liver cancer.

Article Abstract

Background: Liver cancer is highly heterogeneous with poor drug response. Usenamine A has anticancer activity. Usnic acid has hepatocytotoxicity.

Objectives: As a derivative of usnic acid, if usenamine A can be safely used in treatment for liver cancer is unknown.

Methods: MTT and clone formation assays assessed cell viability and proliferation. Tumor growth was determined using a xenograft model. Flow cytometry was used to detect the cell cycle. mRNA transcriptome sequencing investigated differential gene expression. Safety was evaluated in mice.

Key Findings: Usenamine A inhibited proliferation and clone formation of HepG2 cells and xenograft tumor growth through cell cycle arrest at G0/G1. Usenamine A altered gene expression in a direction supporting anticancer activity. IL24, JUN, DUSP4, and DUSP5 were upregulated while PRKACA, PRKCB, TP53, WNT6, E2F3, LGR4, GPR78, and MAPK4 were downregulated. Ten of above genes overlapped in the KEGG enriched non-small cell lung cancer/glioma/cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction/Wnt/MAPK pathway network. Usenamine A has a strong binding affinity for PRKACA and PRKCB proteins. Usenamine A showed minimal toxicity in mice.

Conclusions: Usenamine A is a safe anticancer agent against hepatocellular carcinoma. Regulation of 12 cancer-associated genes and the correlated pathway network are its therapeutic targets.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpp/rgae096DOI Listing

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