Marine natural products are served as attractive source of anticancer therapeutics, with the great success of "first-in-class" drugs, such as Yondelis, Halaven, and Brentuximab vendotin. Lagunamides A-C from marine cyanobacterium, Lyngbya majuscula, exhibit exquisite growth inhibitory activities against cancer cells. In this study, we have systematically investigated the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of a concise collection of lagunamide A and its analogues constructed by total chemical synthesis against a broad panel of cancer cells derived from various tissues or organs, including A549, HeLa, U2OS, HepG2, BEL-7404, BGC-823, HCT116, MCF-7, HL-60, and A375. The R configuration of lagunamide A at C-39 position was found to be the structure determinant for anticancer activity. Further molecular mechanism study in A549 cells revealed that lagunamide A induced caspase-mediated mitochondrial apoptosis. Accompanied with the dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential (Δφm) and overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lagunamide A led to mitochondrial dysfunction and finally caused cell death. Moreover, both anti- and pro-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family proteins participated in lagunamide A-induced mitochondrial apoptosis, especially myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1). Overexpression of Mcl-1 partly rescued A549 cells from lagunamide A-induced apoptosis. This study suggests that lagunamide A may exert anticancer property through mitochondrial apoptosis. Together, our findings would provide insightful information for the design of new anticancer drugs derived from lagunamides.
Keywords: Bcl-2 family; apoptosis; lagunamide A; marine natural products; mitochondria.