Anthracycline chemicals with anthracyclinone structure exert antitumor effects by inhibiting angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in a xenografted gastric tumor model

Background It is vital to screen or develop alternative therapeutic drugs with higher curative characteristics and fewer side effects for the clinical treatment of gastric cancer. Methods Gastric cancer cells were exposed to different auramycin G doses while determining the impact on cell viability, migration, and invasion. Then the antitumor effects of auramycin G, 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and their combination were evaluated. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis regulated by auramycin G and its analogs were investigated. Results Auramycin G inhibited cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 23.72 +/- 6.36 mg/L and 32.54 +/- 5.91 mg/L for AGS and MGC803 cells, respectively. The migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells were significantly inhibited by 10 mg/L auramycin G, which was consistent with the down-regulation of the VEGFR2-VEGFA-pPI3K-pAkt-pErk1 and VEGFR3-VEGFC-pPI3K-pAkt-pmTOR proteins. Notably, the average tumor weights were significantly reduced in both the auramycin G (2.21 +/- 0.45 g) of 50 mg/kg body weight and auramycin G + 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) groups (1.33 +/- 0.28 g), compared with the control (3.73 +/- 0.56 g). Considering that auramycin G decreased the growth of blood and lymphatic vessels while reducing the degree of tumor malignancy, it effectively suppressed tumors by regulating the angiogenic and lymphangiogenic pathways. Conclusion The present study confirmed that auramycin G displayed a prominent antitumor activity in gastric tumor models, both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, it was confirmed that auramycin G played a specific role in certain gastric cancer cell types, while the mechanism was validated to be associated with angiogenesis- and lymphangiogenesis-related pathway suppression. [GRAPHICS] .