Phenoxodiol - An isoflavone analog - Induces apoptosis in chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells

Marijke Kamsteeg, Thomas Rutherford, Eva Sapi, Bozena Hanczaruk, Shoreh Shahabi, Maryann Flick, David Brown, Gil Mor*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

175 Scopus citations

Abstract

Interference with the innate apoptotic activity is a hallmark of neoplastic transformation and tumor formation. In this study we characterize the cytotoxic effect of phenoxodiol, a synthetic anticancer drug analog of genestein, and demonstrate the mechanism of action by which phenoxodiol affects the components of the Fas apoptotic pathway on ovarian cancer cells. Primary ovarian cancer cells, isolated from ascitic fluids of ovarian cancer patients, resistant to conventional chemotherapy, undergo apoptosis following phenoxodiol treatment. This effect is dependent upon the activation of the caspase system, inhibiting XIAP, an inhibitor of apoptosis, and disrupting FLICE inhibitory protein (FLIP) expression through the Akt signal transduction pathway. We suggest that phenoxodiol is an efficient inducer of cell death in ovarian cancer cells and sensitizes the cancer cells to Fas-mediated apoptosis. We identified FLIP and XIAP signalling pathways as key factors regulating the survival of ovarian cancer cells. These findings demonstrate a novel nontoxic drug that controls FLIP/XIAP function and has the potential to eliminate tumor cells through Fas-mediated apoptosis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2611-2620
Number of pages10
JournalOncogene
Volume22
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2003

Funding

We thank Sofya Rodov for technical assistance and Dr Reena Jain from the Department of Pathology for analy sis of the cells. This work was supported in part by a grant from the NCI R01-CA92435-01 and NICHD RO1 HD37137-01A2 to GM.

Keywords

  • Apoptosis
  • Fas
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Phenoxodiol
  • XIAP

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Research

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