Open Access
ARTICLE
Melittin inhibited glycolysis and induced cell apoptosis in cisplatinresistant lung adenocarcinoma cells via TRIM8
SUFANG ZHANG1,2,#, XIANG LV1,#, LI LI3,#, YINGBIN LUO1, HUINAN XIANG1, LIXIN WANG2,*, YAN LI1,*
1 Department of Oncology, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200071, China
2 Department of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200433, China
3 Department of Respiratory Disease, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201999, China
* Address correspondence to: Lixin Wang, ; Yan Li,
# These authors contributed equally to this study
BIOCELL 2021, 45(1), 167-175. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.013636
Received 14 August 2020; Accepted 25 September 2020; Issue published 26 January 2021
Abstract
Chemotherapy is widely used for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients at a late stage; however, NSCLC
patients often acquire resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, thus limiting the therapy efficacy. Melittin, a major
component of bee venom, possesses anti-tumor activity in various cancer cells. Here, we examined the effects of
melittin on A549/DDP cisplatin-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells and xenografts formed from this cell line and
investigated the possible target of melittin. Treatment with melittin resulted in the induction of cell apoptosis,
glycolysis inhibition, and reduction of phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) in A549/DDP cells. We also identified that
tripartite motif-containing 8 (TRIM8) was a potential target of melittin. Moreover, we found that TRIM8 mRNA
expression was elevated in NSCLC specimens as compared to adjacent normal tissues (N = 25) and that patients with
high expression of TRIM8 had a poor prognosis for lung adenocarcinoma. The knockdown of TRIM8 had a similar
effect of melittin, while overexpression of TRIM8 reversed the effects of melittin in A549/DDP cells. More
importantly, we revealed that melittin enhanced cisplatin sensitivity in A549/DDP cells and tumor growth in vivo
using a xenograft model of A549/DDP cells. In conclusion, melittin appears to be a potential chemotherapy
sensitization agent in NSCLC.
Keywords
Cite This Article
ZHANG, S., LV, X., LI, L., LUO, Y., XIANG, H. et al. (2021). Melittin inhibited glycolysis and induced cell apoptosis in cisplatinresistant lung adenocarcinoma cells via TRIM8.
BIOCELL, 45(1), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.013636