ArticleJournal of bioenergetics and biomembranes2020
Artesunate targets oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma via mitochondrial dysfunction-dependent oxidative damage and Akt/AMPK/mTOR inhibition.
Article in Journal of bioenergetics and biomembranes, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Artesunate ameliorates experimental colitis by suppressing intestinal inflammation and modulating the gut microbiota.Experimental animals · 2026Article
- Artesunate: A Review of Its Potential Therapeutic Effects and Mechanisms in Digestive Diseases.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Multiscale screening and identifying specific targets for artesunate in suppressing bladder cancer.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Artesunate Exerts Organ- and Tissue-Protective Effects by Regulating Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, Autophagy, Apoptosis, and Fibrosis: A Review of Evidence and Mechanisms.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Another Use for a Proven Drug: Experimental Evidence for the Potential of Artemisinin and Its Derivatives to Treat Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- CAPE activates AMPK and Foxo3 signaling to induce growth inhibition and ferroptosis in triple-negative breast cancer.PloS one · 2024Article
- En Route to Targeted Ribosome Editing to Replenish Skin Anchor Protein LAMB3 in Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa.JID innovations : skin science from molecules to population health · 2024Article
- Anti-tumor mechanism of artesunate.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Altered iron metabolism as a target for ferroptosis induction in head and neck cancer.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2023Review
- Synergetic delivery of artesunate and isosorbide 5-mononitrate with reduction-sensitive polymer nanoparticles for ovarian cancer chemotherapy.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2022Article
- Artesunate Inhibits the Growth Behavior of Docetaxel-Resistant Prostate Cancer Cells.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Artesunate attenuates proliferation of epithelial cells by downregulating the NF-κB and AKT signaling pathways in benign mammary gland hyperplasia rats.Annals of translational medicine · 2021Article
- Article
- Targeting AKT/mTOR in Oral Cancer: Mechanisms and Advances in Clinical Trials.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Artesunate Suppresses the Proliferation and Development of Estrogen Receptor-α-Positive Endometrial Cancer in HAND2-Dependent Pathway.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2020Article
- Deoxyelephantopin induces cell death in oral cancer cells via the downregulation of AKT1-mTOR-mediated mechanisms.Journal of oral and maxillofacial pathology : JOMFPArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although mitochondrial metabolism has recently gained attention as a promising therapeutic strategy in cancer, little is known on the impact of mitochondrial respiration inhibition on oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC). Using in vitro and in vivo OTSCC models, our work demonstrates that inducing mitochondrial dysfunction by anti-malarial drug artesunate is effective in targeting OTSCC stem-cell like and bulk cells. Artesunate inhibits anchorage-independent colony formation, proliferation and survival in all tested OTSCC cell lines although with varying efficacy. Artesunate displays preferential anti-OTSCC activity by sparing normal cells. Mechanism analysis indicates that artesunate inhibits mitochondrial respiration via suppressing mitochondrial complex I and II but not IV or V, resulting in oxidative stress and damage. Interestingly, OTSCC cells that are more sensitive to artesunate have higher level of basal mitochondrial respiration and reversed respiratory capacity compared to those with less sensitivity to artesunate, suggesting the varying dependence on mitochondrial respiration among OTSCC cell lines. In addition, artesunate induces oxidative stress and damage in cells with low sensitivity to a less extent than in those with high sensitivity. We confirm that mitochondrial respiration inhibition is required for the action of artesunate in OTSCC. Mitochondrial dysfunction by artesunate further activates AMPK and suppresses Akt/mTOR. Importantly, the in vitro observations are reproducible in vivo OTSCC xenograft mouse model. Our findings provide pre-clinical evidence on the efficacy of artesunate and emphasize the therapeutic value of targeting mitochondrial respiration in OTSCC.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.