Emerging role of berbamine as an anti-cancer agent in systemic malignancies besides chronic myeloid leukemia

Emerging role of berbamine as an anti-cancer agent in systemic malignancies besides chronic myeloid leukemia 1 first-author 1 1 2 1 †E-mail:zrxz@zju.edu.cn †E-mail:zrxz@zju.edu.cn zrxz@zju.edu.cn Department of Hematology, the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310009, China Department of Hematology, the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310009, China Cancer Institute, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University Cancer Institute, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University 1 For the Letter to the Editor “Emerging role of berbamine as an anti-cancer agent in systemic malignancies besides chronic myeloid leukemia”, we are pleased with the interest in our article (Liang et al., 2011 2011 ), and appreciate the insightful comments made by Dr. Kapoor ( 2012 2012 ). He systemically reviewed application of berbamine as an anti-cancer agent during the past few years and found that berbamine also shows anti-cancer activity for other systemic malignancies besides chronic myeloid leukemia. Extensive scrutiny of its molecular targets and mechanism of action in the past few decades has provided important insights. At the cellular level, berbamine exhibits significantly antiproliferative activity, inhibiting the proliferations of leukemia, lymphoma (Du et al., 2010 2010 ), breast cancer (Liu et al., 2010 2010 ), and hepatocellular carcinoma (Wang et al., 2009 2009 ). At the molecular level, berbamine-mediated anti-tumor activity was shown to be involved in PI3K/Akt, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) (Du et al., 2010 2010 ), Fas-mediated apoptosis (Wang et al., 2009 2009 ), and P-glycoprotein (Liu et al., 2010 2010 ). However, its targets and molecular mechanism of action are still largely elusive. We feel that identification of the direct molecular target of berbamine will account for the diverse biological activities. References HP Du , JK Shen , M Yang , YQ Wang , XQ Yuan , QL Ma , J Jin . 4-Chlorobenzoyl berbamine induces apoptosis and G 2 /M cell cycle arrest through the PI3K/Akt and NF-kappaB signal pathway in lymphoma cells . Oncol Rep , 2010 . 23 ( 3 ): 709 - 716 . 20127010 . 4-Chlorobenzoyl berbamine induces apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest through the PI3K/Akt and NF-kappaB signal pathway in lymphoma cells S Kapoor . Emerging role of berbamine as an anti-cancer agent in systemic malignancies besides chronic myeloid leukemia . J Zhejiang Univ-Sci B (Biomed & Biotechnol) , 2012 . 13 ( 9 ): 761 - 762 . DOI: 10.1631/jzus.B1200110 http://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200110 . Emerging role of berbamine as an anti-cancer agent in systemic malignancies besides chronic myeloid leukemia Y Liang , X Qiu , RZ Xu , XY Zhao . Berbamine inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of KU812 cells by increasing Smad3 activity . J Zhejiang Univ-Sci B (Biomed & Biotechnol) , 2011 . 12 ( 7 ): 568 - 574 . DOI: 10.1631/jzus.B1000230 http://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1000230 . Berbamine inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of KU812 cells by increasing Smad3 activity R Liu , Y Zhang , Y Chen , J Qi , SM Ren , MY Xushi , CZ Yang , H Zhu , DS Xiong . A novel calmodulin antagonist O -(4-ethoxyl-butyl)-berbamine overcomes multidrug resistance in drug-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast carcinoma cells . J Pharm Sci , 2010 . 99 ( 7 ): 3266 - 3275 . 20112430 DOI: 10.1002/jps.22082 http://doi.org/10.1002/jps.22082 . A novel calmodulin antagonist O-(4-ethoxyl-butyl)-berbamine overcomes multidrug resistance in drug-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast carcinoma cells GY Wang , QH Lv , Q Dong , RZ Xu , QH Dong . Berbamine induces Fas-mediated apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and inhibits its tumor growth in nude mice . J Asian Nat Prod Res , 2009 . 11 ( 3 ): 219 - 228 . 19408145 DOI: 10.1080/10286020802675076 http://doi.org/10.1080/10286020802675076 . Berbamine induces Fas-mediated apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and inhibits its tumor growth in nude mice 10.1631/jzus.B12r0110 2022-01-05 Copyright © Zhejiang University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 2012 Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine and Biotechnology) 09 13