The present study aimed to investigate the effect of acridone alkaloids on cancer cell lines and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. The ten acridone alkaloids from Atalantia monophyla were screened for cytotoxicity against LNCaP cell lines by a WST-8 assay. Then, the most potential acridone, buxifoliadine E, was evaluated on four types of cancer cells, namely prostate cancer (LNCaP), neuroblastoma (SH SY5Y), hepatoblastoma (HepG2), and colorectal cancer (HT29). The results showed that buxifoliadine E was able to significantly inhibit the proliferation of all four types of cancer cells, having the most potent cytotoxicity against the HepG2 cell line. Western blotting analysis was performed to assess the expression of signaling proteins in the cancer cells. In HepG2 cells, buxifoliadine E induced changes in the levels of Bid as well as cleaved caspase-3 and Bax through MAPKs, including Erk and p38. Moreover, the binding interaction between buxifoliadine E and Erk was investigated by using the Autodock 4.2.6 and Discovery Studio programs. The result showed that buxifoliadine E bound at the ATP-binding site, located at the interface between the N- and C-terminal lobes of Erk2. The results of this study indicate that buxifoliadine E suppressed cancer cell proliferation by inhibiting the Erk pathway.
Keywords: Akt; Erk; apoptosis; buxifoliadine E; cancer cells; p38.