{"title":"Anti-cancer effects of boron derivatives on non-small cell lung cancer","authors":"Emre Cebeci , Büşra Yüksel , Fikrettin Şahin","doi":"10.1016/j.jtemb.2025.127627","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lung cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer globally, with 2.5 million new cases representing 12.4 % of the total number of new cases. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are two main subtypes of lung cancer that have different growth and dissemination capacities. Treatment options for lung cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy, including Bortezomib, an FDA-approved boron-derived agent. To bring novel boron-containing compounds to the armamentarium of lung cancer therapy, this study aimed to unravel the anti-cancer potential of Boric Acid (BA) and Sodium pentaborate pentahydrate (NaB) on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer cell line A549. According to the results, the survival rates of A549 cells decreased after BA and NaB treatments by 5.5-fold and 5.2-fold, respectively. The number of colony-forming units was reduced by 3-fold and 2.4-fold after BA and NaB treatments, respectively. Gene expressions and protein levels of some pro-apoptotic and tumor suppressor genes were upregulated and some anti-apoptotic genes were downregulated. Cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase was detected after treatment with both boron. Proliferation markers Ki-67 and PCNA, and checkpoint regulators CDK1 and CDK2 gene expression levels were downregulated after BA and NaB treatments in the A549 cells. Our findings point to a promising selective anti-cancer activity of BA and NaB in the A549 cells without exerting any adverse effects on normal cells. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are required to get detailed information about the anti-cancer mechanism of BA, and NaB on lung cancer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49970,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 127627"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0946672X25000409","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Lung cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer globally, with 2.5 million new cases representing 12.4 % of the total number of new cases. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are two main subtypes of lung cancer that have different growth and dissemination capacities. Treatment options for lung cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy, including Bortezomib, an FDA-approved boron-derived agent. To bring novel boron-containing compounds to the armamentarium of lung cancer therapy, this study aimed to unravel the anti-cancer potential of Boric Acid (BA) and Sodium pentaborate pentahydrate (NaB) on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer cell line A549. According to the results, the survival rates of A549 cells decreased after BA and NaB treatments by 5.5-fold and 5.2-fold, respectively. The number of colony-forming units was reduced by 3-fold and 2.4-fold after BA and NaB treatments, respectively. Gene expressions and protein levels of some pro-apoptotic and tumor suppressor genes were upregulated and some anti-apoptotic genes were downregulated. Cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase was detected after treatment with both boron. Proliferation markers Ki-67 and PCNA, and checkpoint regulators CDK1 and CDK2 gene expression levels were downregulated after BA and NaB treatments in the A549 cells. Our findings point to a promising selective anti-cancer activity of BA and NaB in the A549 cells without exerting any adverse effects on normal cells. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are required to get detailed information about the anti-cancer mechanism of BA, and NaB on lung cancer.
期刊介绍:
The journal provides the reader with a thorough description of theoretical and applied aspects of trace elements in medicine and biology and is devoted to the advancement of scientific knowledge about trace elements and trace element species. Trace elements play essential roles in the maintenance of physiological processes. During the last decades there has been a great deal of scientific investigation about the function and binding of trace elements. The Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology focuses on the description and dissemination of scientific results concerning the role of trace elements with respect to their mode of action in health and disease and nutritional importance. Progress in the knowledge of the biological role of trace elements depends, however, on advances in trace elements chemistry. Thus the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology will include only those papers that base their results on proven analytical methods.
Also, we only publish those articles in which the quality assurance regarding the execution of experiments and achievement of results is guaranteed.