Gamabufotalin, a major derivative of bufadienolide, inhibits VEGF-induced angiogenesis by suppressing VEGFR-2 signaling pathway

• DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.6514
• Publication Date: 2015-12-09T17:45:02Z
• Authors: Ning Tang; Lei Shi; Zhenlong Yu; Peipei Dong; Chao Wang; Xiaokui Huo; Baojing Zhang; Shanshan Huang; Sa Deng; Kexin Liu; Tonghui Ma; Xiaobo Wang; Lijun Wu; Xiao-Chi Ma
• Keywords: Models, Molecular; 0303 health sciences; Lung Neoplasms; Blotting, Western; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Mice, Nude; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Angiogenesis Inhibitors; Apoptosis; 3. Good health; Bufanolides; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Cell Movement; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; Animals; Humans; Immunoprecipitation; Endothelium, Vascular; Aorta; Cells, Cultured; Research Paper; Cell Proliferation

Gamabufotalin (CS-6), a main active compound isolated from Chinese medicine Chansu, has been shown to strongly inhibit cancer cell growth and inflammatory response. However, its effects on angiogenesis have not been known yet. Here, we sought to determine the biological effects of CS-6 on signaling mechanisms during angiogenesis. Our present results fully demonstrate that CS-6 could significantly inhibit VEGF triggered HUVECs proliferation, migration, invasion and tubulogenesis in vitro and blocked vascularization in Matrigel plugs impregnated in C57/BL6 mice as well as reduced vessel density in human lung tumor xenograft implanted in nude mice. Computer simulations revealed that CS-6 interacted with the ATP-binding sites of VEGFR-2 using molecular docking. Furthermore, western blot analysis indicated that CS-6 inhibited VEGF-induced phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 kinase and suppressed the activity of VEGFR-2-mediated signaling cascades. Therefore, our studies demonstrated that CS-6 inhibited angiogenesis by inhibiting the activation of VEGFR-2 signaling pathways and CS-6 could be a potential candidate in angiogenesis-related disease therapy.