Nile Tilapia Derived TP4 Shows Broad Cytotoxicity Toward to Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells

• Published in: Marine drugs Vol. 16; no. 12; p. 506
• Main Authors: Ting, Chen-Hung, Chen, Jyh-Yih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13.12.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial peptide (AMP); Antimicrobial peptides; Apoptosis; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cell death; Cells; Cytotoxicity; Drug resistance; Epidermal growth factor; Epidermal growth factor receptors; Freshwater fishes; Gefitinib; Gene expression; Growth factors; Kinases; Lung cancer; Multidrug resistance; Mutation; Necrosis; Neoplasms; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); Non-small cell lung carcinoma; Oreochromis niloticus; Peptides; Protein-tyrosine kinase; Small cell lung carcinoma; Tilapia; Tilapia piscidin 4 (TP4); Toxicity; Tumors; Tyrosine; Antimicrobial peptide (AMP), Tilapia piscidin 4 (TP4), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
• ISSN: 1660-3397; 1660-3397
• DOI: 10.3390/md16120506

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is among the leading causes of human mortality due to a lack of effective treatments. Conventional chemotherapies affect healthy cells and cause multidrug resistance, while tumors may eventually develop resistance to less-toxic targeted therapies. Thus, the need to develop novel therapies for NSCLC is urgent. Here, we show that Nile tilapia-derived Tilapia piscidin (TP) 4 is cytotoxic to a panel of NSCLC cells with different genetic profiles. We observed that TP4 triggers NSCLC cell death through the necrosis and combining TP4 with potent Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)- tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI)s, Erlotinib, and Gefitinib, improved drug responses in EGFR-mutated NSCLC cells, but not in EGFR-wild-type NSCLC cells. This work provides novel insights into potential NSCLC treatments, which may utilize antimicrobial peptide TP4 as monotherapy or in combination with EGFR-TKIs.