Sesamin suppresses NSCLC cell proliferation and induces apoptosis via Akt/p53 pathway
Authors: Zhicheng Yang
Huiliang Huang
Huachao Li
Yueming Chen
Wanchen Qi
Luyong Zhang
Bing Liu
Weinan Zhang
Changpeng Lu
Journal: Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Apoptosis; Cell cycle arrest; Cyclin D1; NSCLC; Sesamin
Affiliations: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangzhou key laboratory of construction and application of new drug screening model systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Evaluation of ordinary universities of Guangdong province, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China., Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangzhou key laboratory of construction and application of new drug screening model systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Evaluation of ordinary universities of Guangdong province, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: ., Guangzhou key laboratory of construction and application of new drug screening model systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Evaluation of ordinary universities of Guangdong province, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Center for Drug Research and Development, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer with a disappointing prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the anticancer effect of sesamin and the underlying mechanism. The MTT assay was used to detect the proliferation of NSCLC cells. The cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometry. The protein levels of Akt, p-Akt (Ser473), p53, cyclin D1, CDK2, MDM2, p-MDM2 (Ser166) were detected by western blotting. The expression of p-Akt (Ser473), p53 and Ki67 in vivo was analyzed by IHC. Histopathologic analyses of major organs (heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney) were performed by H&amp;E staining. The results show that sesamin suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of NSCLC cells (A549 and H1792) in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with sesamin caused cell cycle arrest at G1 phase and inhibited cyclin D1 and CDK2 expression. In addition, sesamin inhibited Akt activity and upregulated p53 expression both in vivo and in vitro. When Akt and p53 were suppressed by LY294002 and PFTα, respectively, sesamin exerted no additional effects. The in vivo results mostly matched the in vitro findings. Specifically, sesamin exerted little damage to major organs. Taken together, this study demonstrates that sesamin suppresses NSCLC cell proliferation by induction of G1 phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via Akt/p53 pathway. Therefore, sesamin may be a promising adjuvant treatment for NSCLC therapy. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Another apparent image overlap in a paper by this group (see also https: pubpeer.com publications B50CF8BCEC0D4F6F68535BE6B110AF). This is from Figure 6D. *** ![file] , 
 August 1, 2020  The authors regret that in Fig. 6D, the heart tissue images (control and 100 mg Kg groups) are partly overlapped (as shown in the yellow square). The authors state that they took photos of different views of the tissue slides, however, one overlapped image was catched (sic) in the control group and mistakenly considered as 100 mg Kg group during the figure assembling. This has now been corrected. ![file] The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. ,