Lysicamine Reduces Protein Kinase B (AKT) Activation and Promotes Necrosis in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer.

Rodrigues MT, Michelli APP, Caso GF, de Oliveira PR, Rodrigues-Junior DM, Morale MG, Machado Júnior J, Bortoluci KR, Tamura RE, da Silva TRC, Raminelli C, Chau E, Godin B, Calil-Silveira J, Rubio IGS

Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) 16 (12) - [2023-12-04; online 2023-12-04]

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is an aggressive form of thyroid cancer (TC), accounting for 50% of total TC-related deaths. Although therapeutic approaches against TC have improved in recent years, the survival rate remains low, and severe adverse effects are commonly reported. However, unexplored alternatives based on natural compounds, such as lysicamine, an alkaloid found in plants with established cytotoxicity against breast and liver cancers, offer promise. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the antineoplastic effects of lysicamine in papillary TC (BCPAP) and ATC (HTH83 and KTC-2) cells. Lysicamine treatment reduced cell viability, motility, colony formation, and AKT activation while increasing the percentage of necrotic cells. The absence of caspase activity confirmed apoptosis-independent cell death. Necrostatin-1 (NEC-1)-mediated necrosome inhibition reduced lysicamine-induced necrosis in KTC-2, suggesting necroptosis induction via a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-independent mechanism. Additionally, in silico analysis predicted lysicamine target proteins, particularly those related to MAPK and TGF-β signaling. Our study demonstrated lysicamine's potential as an antineoplastic compound in ATC cells with a proposed mechanism related to inhibiting AKT activation and inducing cell death.

PubMed 38139812

DOI 10.3390/ph16121687

Crossref 10.3390/ph16121687

pmc: PMC10748177
pii: ph16121687