-
s β-lapachone: A Promising Anticancer Agent with a Unique NQO1 Specific Apoptosis in Pancreatic Cancer
- Source: Current Cancer Drug Targets, Volume 22, Issue 7, Aug 2022, p. 537 - 540
-
- 01 Aug 2022
- Previous Article
- Table of Contents
- Next Article
Abstract
Cancer, one of the major health problems all over the world, requires more competent drugs for clinical use. One recent possible chemotherapeutic drug under research is β-lapachone. β- lapachone (1,2-naphthoquinone) has promising activity against those tumors showing raised levels of Nicotinamide di-phosphate Quinone Oxidoreductases-1 (NQO1). NQO1 is found to be up-regulated in pancreatic tumor cells, and thus β-lapachone could generate cytotoxicity in various cancers like pancreatic tumors. β-lapachone harborage independent growth and clonogenic cell survival in agar. The cell-killing effects of β-lapachone can be stopped by using dicumarol, an inhibitor of NAD(P)H Quinone Oxidoreductases-1. In previously established pancreatic cancer xenografts in mice, β- lapachone inhibited the tumor growth when given orally rather than when combined with cyclodextrin to improve its bioavailability.