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Tumor Biology
Published in: Tumor Biology 9/2016

01-09-2016 | Original Article

Aphanin, a triterpenoid from Amoora rohituka inhibits K-Ras mutant activity and STAT3 in pancreatic carcinoma cells

Authors: Thangaiyan Rabi, Carlo V. Catapano

Published in: Tumor Biology | Issue 9/2016

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Abstract

Mutations of the K-Ras gene occur in over 90 % of pancreatic carcinomas, and to date, no targeted therapies exist for this genetically defined subset of cancers. STAT3 plays a critical role in KRAS-driven pancreatic tumorigenesis, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic target in this cancer. Therefore, finding novel and potential drugs to inhibit oncogenic K-Ras is a major challenge in cancer therapy. In an attempt to develop novel anti-KRAS mutant chemotherapeutics, we isolated three novel triterpenoids from Amoora rohituka stem and their chemical structures were characterized by extensive 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, Mass, IR spectroscopic studies and chemical transformations. Aphanin (3 alpha-angeloyloxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid) is one of the isolated novel triterpenoid compounds. We found aphanin exhibited antiproliferative effects, caused G0-G1 cell cycle arrest, inhibits K-Ras G12D mutant activity by decreased STAT3, p-STAT3, Akt, p-Akt, cyclin D1 and c-Myc expressions, and induced apoptosis in pancreatic cancer HPAF-II (ΔKRAS G12D ) cells. The apoptosis proceeded through depletion of GSH with a concomitant increase in the reactive oxygen species production. The results of our study have important implications for the development of aphanin as potential novel agent for the treatment of K-Ras mutant pancreatic cancer, and STAT3-cMyc-cyclinD1 axis may serve as an important predictive biomarker for the therapeutic efficacy.
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Metadata
Title
Aphanin, a triterpenoid from Amoora rohituka inhibits K-Ras mutant activity and STAT3 in pancreatic carcinoma cells
Authors
Thangaiyan Rabi
Carlo V. Catapano
Publication date
01-09-2016
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Tumor Biology / Issue 9/2016
Print ISSN: 1010-4283
Electronic ISSN: 1423-0380
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5102-2

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