Effect of gigantol on epithelial to mesenchymal transition in lung cancer cells

Abstract

Lung cancer has been a disease with high fatality rate due to the high metastatic rate. One of the most essential processes of metastasis is the ability of cancer cells to undergo the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) which allows cancer cells to resist the programmed cell death in a detached condition called anoikis and to migrate into the surrounding tissue. Gigantol, a bibenzyl compound extracted from Dendrobium draconis, has been a promising naturally derived compound for cancer therapy due to several cytotoxic effects in cancer cells. This study has demonstrated for the first time that gigantol significantly attenuated EMT process in lung cancer cells. The results have shown that gigantol decreased lung cancer cells viability in a detached condition as well as decreased the migration and invasion. Western blotting analysis revealed that gigantol caused significant changes in EMT markers including the increase in E-cadherin expression, the decrease in N-cadherin and Vimentin expressions. These changes in EMT markers were induced by the decrease in expression of transcirption factor, Slug. It was found that gigantol was able to suppress the activity of protein kinase B (AKT). Therefore, gigantol could be a potential cancer therapeutic compound suggesting for further developed for cancer therapy.