Pseudobufarenogin (ψ-Bufarenogin), a novel anti-tumor compound, suppresses liver cancer growth by inhibiting receptor tyrosine kinase-mediated signaling.

ψ-Bufarenogin, a novel active compound that we isolated from the extract of toad skin, exhibited potent therapeutic effect in xenografted human hepatoma without notable side effects.?In vitro, ψ-Bufarenogin suppressed HCC cells proliferation through impeding cell cycle progression, and it facilitated cell apoptosis by downregulating Mcl-1 expression.?Moreover, ψ-Bufarenogin decreased the number of hepatoma stem cells through Sox2 depression and exhibited synergistic effect with conventional chemotherapeutics.?Mechanistic study revealed that ψ-Bufarenogin impaired the activation of MEK/ERK pathway, which is essential in the proliferation of hepatoma cells.?ψ-Bufarenogin notably suppressed PI3-K/Akt cascade, which was required in ψ-Bufarenogin-mediated reduction of Mcl-1 and Sox2.?ψ-Bufarenogin inhibited the auto-phosphorylation and activation of epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) and hepatocyte growth factor receptor (c-Met), thereafter suppressed their primary downstream cascades Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3-K/Akt signaling.?Taken together, ψ-Bufarenogin suppressed HCC growth via inhibiting, at least partially, receptor tyrosine kinases-regulated signaling, suggesting that ψ-Bufarenogin could be a novel lead compound for anti-HCC drug.