A carbazole alkaloid deactivates mTOR through the suppression of rictor and that induces apoptosis in lung cancer cells.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is known to be a difficult cancer to treat because of its poor prognosis, limited option for surgery, and resistance to chemo or radiotherapy. In this study, we have demonstrated that suppression of rictor expression in A549 and H1299 NSCLC cells by mahanine, a carbazole alkaloid, disrupted constitutive activation of mTOR and Akt. Mahanine suppression of rictor gene expression and consequent attenuation of its protein expression affected the inhibition of mTOR (Ser-2481) and Akt (Ser-473) phosphorylation. Since mahanine treatment revealed this new insight of rictor-mTOR relationship, we examined an association between mTOR activation with rictor expression. Interestingly, in rictor knockdown (KD) NSCLC cells, mTOR activation was significantly impaired. Transfection of rictor over-expression vector into the NSCLC cells reversed this situation. In fact, both rictor KD and mahanine treated cells showed considerably depleted phospho-mTOR level. These results indicate that rictor is required to maintain constitutive activation of mTOR in lung cancer cells. When mTOR kinase activity in rictor KD cells was examined with Akt as substrate, a significant reduction of Akt phosphorylation indicated impairment of mTOR kinase potentiality. Disruption of mTOR and Akt activation caused drastic mortality of NSCLC cancer cells through apoptosis. Hence, our study reveals a new dimension in mTOR-rictor relationship, where rictor stands to be a suitable therapeutic target for lung cancer.

Vapor of volatile oils from Litsea cubeba seed induces apoptosis and causes cell cycle arrest in lung cancer cells.

Non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is a major killer in cancer related human death. Its therapeutic intervention requires superior efficient molecule(s) as it often becomes resistant to present chemotherapy options. Here we report that vapor of volatile oil compounds obtained from Litsea cubeba seeds killed human NSCLC cells, A549, through the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Vapor generated from the combined oils (VCO) deactivated Akt, a key player in cancer cell survival and proliferation. Interestingly VCO dephosphorylated Akt at both Ser(473) and Thr(308); through the suppression of mTOR and pPDK1 respectively. As a consequence of this, diminished phosphorylation of Bad occurred along with the decreased Bcl-xL expression. This subsequently enhanced Bax levels permitting the release of mitochondrial cytochrome c into the cytosol which concomitantly activated caspase 9 and caspase 3 resulting apoptotic cell death. Impairment of Akt activation by VCO also deactivated Mdm2 that effected overexpression of p53 which in turn upregulated p21 expression. This causes enhanced p21 binding to cyclin D1 that halted G1 to S phase progression. Taken together, VCO produces two prong effects on lung cancer cells, it induces apoptosis and blocked cancer cell proliferation, both occurred due to the deactivation of Akt. In addition, it has another crucial advantage: VCO could be directly delivered to lung cancer tissue through inhalation.