The natural alkaloid berberine has been recently described as a promising anticancer drug. In order to improve its efficacy and bioavailability, several derivatives have been designed and synthesized and found to be even more potent than the lead compound. Among the series of berberine derivatives we have produced, five compounds were identified to be able to heavily affect the proliferation of human HCT116 and SW613-B3 colon carcinoma cell lines. Remarkably, these active compounds exhibit high fluorescence emission property and ability to induce autophagy.
Keywords: apoptosis; autophagy; berberine; colon cancer; fluorescence.
© The Author 2015. Published by ABBS Editorial Office in association with Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.