The triazole linked galactose substituted dicyano compound can induce autophagy in NSCLC cell lines

As seen in other types of cancer, development of drug resistance in NSCLC treatment causes adverse effects on disease fighting process. Recent studies have shown that one of the drug resistance development mechanisms is that cancer cells may acquire the ability to escape from cell death. Therefore, development of anticancer drugs which have the strategy to redirect cancer cells to any cell death pathways may provide positive results for cancer treatments. Autophagy may be a target mechanism of alternative cancer treatment strategy in cases of blocked apoptosis. There is also a complex molecular link between autophagy and apoptosis, has not been fully understood yet. The dicyano compound which we used in our study caused cell death in NSCLC cell lines. When we analyzed the cells which were treated with dicyano compound by transmission electron microscope, we observed autophagosome structures. Upon this result, we investigated expression levels of autophagic proteins in the dicyano compound-treated cells by immunoblotting and observed that expression levels of autophagic proteins were increased significantly. The TUNEL assay and qRT-PCR for pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic gene expression, which we performed to assess apoptosis in the dicyano compound-treated cells, showed that the cell death does not occur through apoptotic pathway. We showed that the dicyano compound, which was developed in our laboratories, may play a role in molecular link between apoptosis and autophagy and may shed light on development of new anticancer treatment strategies.