Estudo do potencial antineoplásico de uma nova naftoquinona sintetizada a partir da Lausona

Abstract

Quinones are plant-derived secondary metabolites that present diverse pharmacological properties, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiinflammatory, antipyretic and anticancer activities. In the present study, we evaluated the cytotoxic effect of a new naftoquinona 6b,7-dihydro-5H-cyclopenta[b]naphtho[2,1-d]furan-5,6(9aH)-dione) (CNFD) in different tumor cell lines. CNFD had cytotoxic activity against different tumor cell lines, especially in MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma cells, which showed IC50 values of 3.06 and 0.98 μM for 24 and 48 h incubation, respectively. In wound-healing migration assays, CNFD exhibited inhibition of cell migration. Typical hallmarks of apoptosis, such as cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, phosphatidylserine exposure, increase of the caspases 9 and 3 activation, increase of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation without affecting the cell membrane permeabilization, increase production of ROS and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential were found. Moreover, gene expression experiments indicated that CNFD increased the expression of the genes CDKN1A, FOS, MAX and RAC1 and lowered the level of mRNA transcripts of several genes, including CCND1, CDK2, SOS1, RHOA, GRB2, EGFR and KRAS. The treatment of CNFD in MCF-7 cells caused the activation of c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and inativation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2). In in vivo study using a melanoma murine model, CNFD induced potent anti-tumor activity. Here, we describe for the first time the citotoxity and anti-tumor activity of CNFD and sequential mechanisms of apoptosis in MCF-7 cells were related. Our results suggest that CNFD is potential candidate in the anti-tumor therapy.