Anti-esophagus cancer activity and mechanism of DN3,a novel natural diterpenoid derivative,as a dual inhibitor of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation

OBJECTIVE To probe into the anti-esophagus cancer activity and mechanisms of DN3,a novel natural diterpenoid derivative.METHODS The anti-tumor activity in vitro of DN3 was evaluated by MTT,and by using human esophageal carcinoma cells xenografted into athymic mice model in vivo.The specific mechanisms of DN3,as a dual inhibitor of glycolysis and oxidative phos.phorylation(OXPHOS) were explored through cell and molecular biology techniques.For instance,the manner of cancer cell death induced by DN3 was characterized by hoechst33342,FITC-Annexin V/PI staining and flow cytometric analysis,then these changes of glucose consumption,glucose uptake and lactate production in glycolysis,as well as oxygen consumption rate(OCR) and ATP content in OXPHOS caused by DN3 were performed separately through related kits and SeahorseBioscience XF24 Extra.cellular Flux Analyzer.Furthermore,in order to obtain a clear understanding of the inhibition of DN3 to glycolysis and OXPHOS,these regulatory factors were investigated by Western blot,such as PI3K/AKT,c-Myc and p53 of glycolysis,Bax and HK2 of mitochondrial function.RESULTS DN3 inhibited the growth of esophagus cancer cell EC9706,EC109 and EC1 cells in a dose and time dependent manner,but showed no significant effects on human esophageal epithelial cells(HEECs).DN3 caused significant G2/M arrest of esophagus cancer cell lines and induced apoptosis of these cell lines,which indicated DN3 inhibited the growth of esophagus cancer cell through blocking cell cycle and inducing apoptosis in a dose and time-dependent manner.Importantly,8 μM DN3 decreased the extracellular acidification rate(ECAR) by 45% in EC109,which indicated glycolysis was inhibited by DN3.Mean.while,DN3 decreased the oxygen consumption rate(OCR) and the OCR linked to intracellular ATP production in EC109 cells,but that was not obvious in HEECs,so which indicated that DN3 could selec.tively block OXPHOS of cancer cells.In addition,the accumulation of reactive oxygen species(ROS)and the drop of mitochondrial membrane potential(MMP) were also observed in EC109 incubated by DN3,which suggested mitochondrial biological function was disturbed.Furthermore,the expression of PI3K/AKT,c-Myc and HK2 related to glycolysis were down-regulated by DN3,but the p53 and Bax were up-regulated in esophageal carcinoma cells.The changes of these enzymes accounted for the decreased glycolysisand OXPHOS in esophageal carcinoma cells treated by DN3.CONCLUSION The new compound DN3 has a strong anti-esophageal carcinoma activity,and it is tolerable that DN3 is seen as a dual inhibitor of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation.