title: Kigamicin D, a novel anticancer agent based on a new anti-austerity strategy targeting cancer cells' tolerance to nutrient starvation.
abstract: Both tolerance to nutrient starvation and angiogenesis are essential for cancer progression because of the insufficient supply of nutrients to tumor tissue. Since chronic nutrient starvation seldom occurs in normal tissue, cancer's tolerance to nutrient starvation should provide a novel target for cancer therapy. In this study, we propose an anti-austerity strategy to exploit the ability of agents to eliminate cancer cells' tolerance to nutrient starvation. We established a simple screening method for agents that inhibit cancer cell viability preferentially during nutrient starvation, using PANC-1 cell line cultured in nutrient-rich and nutrient-deprived media. After screening over 2000 culture media of actinomycetes, we identified a new compound, kigamicin D (C(48)H(59)NO(19)), which shows preferential cytotoxicity to cancer cells under nutrient-deprived conditions, but hardly any cytotoxicity under nutrient-rich conditions. Both subcutaneous and oral administration of kigamicin D strongly suppressed the tumor growth of several tested pancreatic cancer cell lines in nude mice. Moreover, kigamicin D was observed to block the activation of Akt induced by nutrient starvation. Therefore, our results suggest that kigamicin D be a candidate for implementing our novel concept, anti-austerity, which may serve as a new strategy for cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Investigative Treatment Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute East, Chiba 277-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Setsuko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kunimoto
authors.forename: Yohko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaminishi
authors.forename: Hiroyasu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esumi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003470:Culture Media; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009336:Necrosis; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D010080:Oxazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D010080:Oxazoles; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C484110:kigamicin D; D004317:Doxorubicin; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt