Modulation of Apoptotic and Akt/PI3K/mTOR pathways to target Glioblastoma Cells using synthetic compound PGEA-AN

To investigate the anticancer potential of a novel synthetic derivative of a naturally occurring diterpenoid against glioblastoma.

The in vitro study was conducted at the Ojha Campus of Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from February to December 2021, and comprised U87 cells. The 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay was used to determine the growth inhibitory effect of 16(R and S) - phenylamino-cleroda3, 13(14) Zdiene- 15, 16 olide and standard drug temozolomide against glioblastoma cells, and half-maximal inhibitory concentration was calculated. Microscopy and immunocytochemistry were used to investigate apoptotic morphology and active caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) expression. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction was used to investigate the expression of proliferation markers. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.

Both the synthetic derivative and the standard drug significantly inhibited growth of U87 cells (p<0.001) with half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 19μM and 185μM, respectively. Apoptotic morphology and upregulation of active caspase-3 protein expression was observed in cells treated with half-maximal inhibitory concentration doses of both the synthetic derivative (p<0.05) and the standard drug (p<0.001), and Bcl-2 was downregulated in both the synthetic derivative (p<0.01) and the standard drug (p=0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in the expression of proliferation markers (p>0.05).

The synthetic diterpene derivative PGEA-AN showed growth inhibitory actiity against glioblastoma.