On the mechanism of tumor cell entry of aloe‐emodin, a natural compound endowed with anticancer activity

Abstract

Aloe-emodin (1,8-dihydroxy-3-[hydroxymethyl]-anthraquinone), AE, is one of the active constituents of a number of plant species used in traditional medicine. We have previously identified, for the first time, AE as a new antitumor agent and shown that its selective in vitro and in vivo killing of neuroblastoma cells was promoted by a cell-specific drug uptake process. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the cell entry of AE has remained elusive as yet. In this report, we show that AE enters tumor cells via two of the five somatostatin receptors: SSTR2 and SSTR5. This observation was suggested by gene silencing, receptor competition, imaging and molecular modeling experiments. Furthermore, SSTR2 was expressed in all surgical neuroblastoma specimens we analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The above findings have strong implications for the clinical adoption of this natural anthraquinone molecule as an antitumor agent.

Phytochemical Profiling and Assessment of Habbe Musaffe Khoon Against Cervical Cancer

“…Kaempferide has shown promising effects on HCC and other cancers (Chandrababu et al, 2023). Purpurin (Singh et al, 2021) and aloe-emodin (Ahirwar, 2011; Pecere, 2021; Semwal, 2021) are anthraquinones that have reported anticancer properties. Coumarin (Kumar et al, 2018), cynidin 3 glucogalactoside (Chen et al, 2020), palmitic acid (Harada et al, 2002), and piperidine (Rashmi Wardhan et al, 2020; Reshmi et al, 2010) present in HMK have shown activity against lung, breast, leukemia, and other cancers.…”