The potential effect of gigantol on lung cancer metastasis

摘要

Lung cancer has been one of the most fundamental leadingcauses of death within the past 10 years [1]. The severity ofthe disease is related to the metastatic potential and aberrantapoptosis of lung cancer cells. Metastasis is the processwhen cancer cells transport from their original tumor site andestablish a secondary tumor elsewhere. These aggressive behaviorscomprise their anoikis resistance and their migrateabilities [2]. The process of a programmed cell death in an attachedcondition is called apoptosis whereas anoikis is a cellularmortality in a detached condition. One of the most essentialprocesses of metastasis is cell migration where cancer cells areable to migrate through their surrounding extra cellular matrixand penetrate into the blood circulating system allowing themto freely settle at a novel site. Therefore, the discoveries of newtherapeutic strategies targeting metastasis process and apoptosiscell death have garnered the most interest in cancerpharmaceutical sciences. Gigantol, a bibenzyl compound extractedfrom Dendrobium draconis, has been a promising naturalderived compound for cancer therapy due to several cytotoxiceffects in cancer cells [3]. This study has discovered thatGigantol exhibits a metastasis inhibiting effect through enhancingdetachment-induced apoptosis and reducing migrationactivities as well as inducing apoptosis in lung cancer cells.This finding has proven that Gigantol could be a potentialcancer therapeutic compound that should be further developedfor cancer therapy.