Carcinogenesis Advance Access originally published online on August 27, 2007
Carcinogenesis 2007 28(11):2337-2346; doi:10.1093/carcin/bgm189
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2-Cyano-lup-1-en-3-oxo-20-oic acid, a cyano derivative of betulinic acid, activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor
in colon and pancreatic cancer cells


1 Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center,Houston, TX 77030-3303, USA
2 Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4466, USA
3 Department of Chemistry, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +979 845 5988; Fax: +979 862 4929; Email: ssafe{at}cvm.tamu.edu
Betulinic acid (BA) is a phytochemical triterpenoid acid from bark extracts and is cytotoxic to cancer cells and tumors. We modified the A-ring of BA to give a 2-cyano-1-en-3-one moiety and the effects of the 2-cyano-lup-1-en-3-oxo-20-oic acid (CN-BA), 2-cyano derivative of BA, and its methyl ester (CN-BA-Me) were investigated in colon and pancreatic cancer cells. Both CN-BA and CN-BA-Me were highly cytotoxic to Panc-28 pancreatic and SW480 colon cancer cells. CN-BA and CN-BA-Me also induced differentiation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, which exhibited a characteristic fat droplet accumulation induced by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor
(PPAR
) agonists. Based on these results, we investigated the activities of CN-BA and CN-BA-Me as PPAR
agonists using several receptor-mediated responses including activation of transfected PPAR
-responsive constructs, induction of p21 in Panc-28 cells and induction of caveolin-1 and Krüppel-like factor 4 in colon cancer cells. The results clearly demonstrated that both CN-BA and CN-BA-Me activated PPAR
-dependent responses in colon (caveolin-1) and pancreatic (p21) cancer cells, whereas induction of KLF4 by these compounds in colon cancer cells was PPAR
independent and also dependent on cell context. The PPAR
agonist activities of CN-BA and CN-BA-Me were structure-, response/gene- and cell context-dependent suggesting that these compounds are a novel class of selective PPAR
modulators with potential for clinical treatment of colon and pancreatic cancer.
Abbreviations: BA, betulinic acid; C-DIM, methylene-substituted diindolylmethanes; CDDO, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxo-18ß-oleana-1,19-diene-28-oic acid; ß-CDODA, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxo-18ß-olean-1,12-diene-30-oic acid; CN-BA, 2-cyano-lup-1-en-3-oxo-20-oic acid; CN-BA-Me, methyl ester of CN-BA; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; FBS, fetal bovine serum; ß-GAL, ß-Galactosidase; PPAR
, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor
; TBST, Tris-buffered saline containing Tween-20
Both authors contributed equally to this work. Received June 8, 2007; revised August 13, 2007; accepted August 13, 2007.