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International audience; Background Quinacrine (QC) is popular for its anti-malarial activity. It has been reported exhibiting anti-cancerous properties by suppressing nuclear factor-κB and activating p53 signaling; however, its effect on cellular pathways in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been studied. Materials and Methods Binding of QC with GSTA1 was studied computationally as well as through GST activity assay kit. Cell viability, cell cycle and mitochondrial membrane potential activity were studied using flow cytometry. RT-PCR and western blot were carried out to understand the involvement of various genes at their mRNA as well as protein level. Results QC inhibited the activity of GSTA1 approximately by 40-45% which inhibits cell survival and promotes apoptosis. QC reduced viability of NSCLC cells in a dose-dependent manner. It also causes nuclear fragmentation, G1/S arrest of cell cycle and ROS generation; which along with disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential activity leads to apoptotic fate. Conclusions Results revealed, QC has promising anti-cancer potential against NSCLC cells via inhibition of GSTA1, induction of G1/S arrest and ROS mediated apoptotic signaling. Copyright © Kumar et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

BackgroundFGF family receptors, especially FGFR1, have been widely implicated for their potential role in the promotion of oncogenesis and chemoresistance in lung cancer. Quinacrine, an anti-malarial drug, has been widely reported to exhibit anti-neoplastic properties through the activation of p53 and simultaneous inhibition of NF-kB signaling pathways in cancer cells.MethodsThe binding of QC to FGFR1 was studied using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies. The experimental kinase activity assay for the protein was performed using a luminescence-based kinase assay. FGF-induced phosphorylation and proliferation were studied by cell counting and western blotting. Matrigel-based cell migration was conducted to assess migration activity.ResultsQC interacted with multiple residues around the kinase insert domain of FGFR1 through hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions, and water bridges. The kinase activity inhibition assay demonstrated a significant reduction in FGFR1 kinase activity by QC at higher concentrations, which was further observed at the cellular level in inhibition of FGFR1 phosphorylation and proliferation by QC at higher exposure concentrations of FGF stimulated cells. These effects were further validated downstream in the FGF-induced activation of cell migration.ConclusionQC did form a stable interaction with residues of FGFR1 at another allosteric site surrounding the kinase domain, leading to inhibition of its kinase activity at higher drug concentrations. This effect was further observed at the cellular level in both acidic and basic FGF ligand-induced proliferation, phosphorylation of FGFR1, and cell migration, where a trend of significant reduction in activity was observed at higher drug concentrations.