Honey Targets Ribosome Biogenesis Components to Suppress the Growth of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Authors

Aun A. Bangash, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Sahir S. Alvi, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Muhammad Bangash, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Haider Ahsan, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Shiza Khan, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Rida Shareef, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Georgina Villanueva, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Divyam Bansal
Mudassier Ahmad, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Dae Joon Kim, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Subhash Chauhan, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Bilal B. Hafeez, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-9-2024

Abstract

Simple Summary

Pancreatic cancer (PanCa) is one of the deadliest forms of cancer with limited therapeutic options. The available conventional therapies are highly toxic and often show resistance. Accumulating evidence suggests that dysregulated ribosome biogenesis has been linked to the survival and aggressive phenotypes of many tumor types, including PanCa. Thus, targeting ribosome biogenesis could be a novel approach for suppressing the growth of PanCa. The current study aimed to investigate the anti-cancer efficacy and underlying molecular mechanisms of honey against PanCa. Our results demonstrated that honey induces apoptosis and inhibits the growth and invasive potential of PanCa cells by targeting ribosome biogenesis components and c-Myc expression. This study suggests that honey can be used as an adjuvant along with conventional chemo/radiation therapy or immunotherapy for the management of PanCa.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer (PanCa) is one of the deadliest cancers, with limited therapeutic response. Various molecular oncogenic events, including dysregulation of ribosome biogenesis, are linked to the induction, progression, and metastasis of PanCa. Thus, the discovery of new therapies suppressing these oncogenic events and ribosome biogenesis could be a novel therapeutic approach for the prevention and treatment of PanCa. The current study was designed to investigate the anti-cancer effect of honey against PanCa. Our results indicated that honey markedly inhibited the growth and invasive characteristics of pancreatic cancer cells by suppressing the mRNA expression and protein levels of key components of ribosome biogenesis, including RNA Pol-I subunits (RPA194 and RPA135) along with its transcriptional regulators, i.e., UBTF and c-Myc. Honey also induced nucleolar stress in PanCa cells by reducing the expression of various nucleolar proteins (NCL, FBL, and NPM). Honey-mediated regulation on ribosome biogenesis components and nucleolar organization-associated proteins significantly arrested the cell cycle in the G2M phase and induced apoptosis in PanCa cells. These results, for the first time, demonstrated that honey, being a natural remedy, has the potential to induce apoptosis and inhibit the growth and metastatic phenotypes of PanCa by targeting ribosome biogenesis.

Comments

© 2024 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Recommended Citation

Bangash, A. A., Alvi, S. S., Bangash, M. A., Ahsan, H., Khan, S., Shareef, R., Villanueva, G., Bansal, D., Ahmad, M., Kim, D. J., Chauhan, S. C., & Hafeez, B. B. (2024). Honey Targets Ribosome Biogenesis Components to Suppress the Growth of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells. Cancers, 16(19), 3431. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16193431

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Cancers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16193431

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Immunology and Microbiology