Lung Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Cancer, including details on symptoms, smoking, genetics, treatment, causes.

Chemopreventive effects of deguelin, a novel Akt inhibitor, on tobacco-induced lung tumorigenesis.

Lee HY, Oh SH, Woo JK, Kim WY, Van Pelt CS, Price RE, Cody D, Tran H, Pezzuto JM, Moriarty RM, Hong WK

Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. hlee@mdanderson.org

Tobacco carcinogens induce Akt activation and lung carcinogenesis. We previously demonstrated that deguelin, a natural plant product, specifically inhibits the proliferation of premalignant and malignant human bronchial epithelial cells by blocking Akt activation. To evaluate the ability of deguelin to block tobacco carcinogen-induced lung tumorigenesis, we evaluated the in vivo effects of deguelin on Akt activation and lung tumorigenesis in transgenic mice in which Akt expression was induced by tamoxifen and in 4-(methylnitrosoamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)/benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)-treated A/J mice. Deguelin suppressed Akt activation in vivo, as measured by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting, and statistically significantly reduced NNK/BaP-induced lung tumor multiplicity, volume, and load in A/J mice, as monitored by microcomputed tomography image analysis, with no detectable toxicity. These results indicate that deguelin warrants consideration as a chemopreventive agent for early-stage lung carcinogenesis in a clinical lung cancer chemoprevention trial.

Published 18 November 2005 in J Natl Cancer Inst, 97(22): 1695-9.
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