%0 Journal Article
%T Cucurbitacins: elucidation of their interactions with the cytoskeleton
%A Herbenya Silva Peixoto
%A Michael Wink
%A Mine Tanaka
%A Xiaojuan Wang
%J Archive of "PeerJ".
%D 2017
%R 10.7717/peerj.3357
%X Cucurbitacins, a class of toxic tetracyclic triterpenoids in Cucurbitaceae, modulate many molecular targets. Here we investigated the interactions of cucurbitacin B, E and I with cytoskeletal proteins such as microtubule and actin filaments. The effects of cucurbitacin B, E and I on microtubules and actin filaments were studied in living cells (Hela and U2OS) and in vitro using GFP markers, immunofluorescence staining and in vitro tubulin polymerization assay. Cucurbitacin B, E and I apparently affected microtubule structures in living cells and cucurbitacin E inhibited tubulin polymerization in vitro with IC50 value of 566.91 ¡À 113.5 ¦ÌM. Cucurbitacin E did not affect the nucleation but inhibited the growth phase and steady state during microtubule assembly in vitro. In addition, cucurbitacin B, E and I all altered mitotic spindles and induced the cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase. Moreover, they all showed potent effects on actin cytoskeleton by affecting actin filaments through the depolymerization and aggregation. The interactions of cucubitacin B, E and I with microtubules and actin filaments present new insights into their modes of action
%K Cucurbitacins
%K Cucurbitaceae
%K Cytotoxicity
%K Actin filament
%K Microtubule
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452965/