The use of natural substances derived from traditional Chinese medicine and natural plants as safe radiosensitizing adjuvants is a new trend for cancer radiotherapy.

Recently, Prof. HUANG Qing’s group from the Institute of Intelligent Machines, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) found ganoderic acid T, which was extracted from Ganoderma, a kind of fungi, could converting apoptosis to necroptosis, hence improve the radiosensitivity of HeLa cells.

Ganoderma lucidum has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine with a history of more than 2000 years. Ganoderic acid T (GAT) is a typical triterpene of G. lucidum, which has strong cytotoxicity to cancer cells, but whether it has radiation sensitization effect has not been explored.

In this study, researchers confirmed that GAT could induce not only apoptosis but also necroptosis in the HeLa cells exposed to ionizing radiation. They found that when the concentration of GAT increased, the death state of HeLa cells would change from apoptotic to necroptotic.

They also explored the mechanism of enhancing radiation sensitivity of GAT by analyzing the cell cycle arrest, consumption of intracellular ATP, increase of Reactive oxygen species (ROS), decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential, and the transformation of necroptosis.

The findings from this study have therefore showed some insights into the pathways and mechanism of the radiation sensitization effect of GAT. It may also provide a new direction for the research and development of traditional Chinese medicines or natural products as effective radiosensitizing adjuvants in tumor radiation therapy.

The research was completed in cooperation with Zhang Jin-Song laboratory, Institute of edible fungi, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The research was mainly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants No. 11635013 and No. 11775272) and Central-level scientific institutions repair and purchase special funds (No. Y79XG13361).

Link to the paper: Ganoderic acid T improves the radiosensitivity of HeLa cells via converting apoptosis to necroptosis

Schematic diagram of the biochemical events of GAT and ionizing radiation on cells. (Image by SHAO Changsheng)

Contact:

ZHAO Weiwei
Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (http://english.hf.cas.cn/)
Email: annyzhao@ipp.ac.cn