Discovery of a new autophagy inducer for A549 lung cancer cells.
Li N, Qu G, Xue J, Li X, Zhao X, Yan Y, Gao D, Zhang L, Wang P, Zhang M, Zhao B, Miao J, Lin Z.
Biological activities of a series of fluorescent compounds against human lung cancer cell line A549 were investigated. The results showed that (E)-1,3,3-trimethyl-2-(4-(piperidin-1-yl)styryl)-3H-indol-1-ium iodide (8) and (E)-2-(5,5-dimethyl-3-(4-(piperazin-1-yl)styryl)cyclohex-2-en-1-ylidene) malononitrile (11) could inhibit the growth of A549 cancer cells in a dose and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, compound 8 could trigger autophagy and apoptosis, but not obviously induce necrosis under the stimulatory condition. Therefore, 8 can be used as autophagy activator to investigate the regulatory mechanism of autophagy and may offer a new candidate for the treatment of lung cancer.