Marine sponge-derived alkaloid inhibits the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway against diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a genetically heterogeneous non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is extremely aggressive and has an intermediate to high malignancy. Some patients still experience treatment failure, relapse, or resistance to rituximab, cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) therapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for further research on new agents for the treatment of DLBCL. AP-48 is an aaptamine alkaloid analog with potent anti-tumor effects that originates from marine natural products. In this study, we found that AP-48 exhibits dose-dependent cytotoxicity in DLBCL cell lines. Flow cytometry showed that AP-48 induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase in SU-DHL-4 and Farage cells and in the S phase in WSU-DLCL-2 cells. AP-48 also accelerated apoptosis via the caspase-3-mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Further experiments demonstrated that AP-48 exerted its anti-DLBCL effects through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and that the PI3K agonist YS49 partially alleviated the inhibition of cell proliferation and apoptosis induced by AP-48. Finally, in a tumor xenograft model, AP-48 inhibited tumor growth and promoted apoptosis in tumor tissues, indicating its therapeutic potential in DLBCL.