heme mediates cytotoxicity from artemisinin and serves as a general anti-proliferation target血红素介导细胞毒性从青蒿素和作为一个一般的防扩散目标.pdfVIP

Heme Mediates Cytotoxicity from Artemisinin and Serves as a General Anti-Proliferation Target Shiming Zhang, Glenn S. Gerhard* Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, Pennsylvania, United States of America Abstract Heme (Fe2+ protoporphyrin IX) is an essential molecule that has been implicated the potent antimalarial action of artemisinin and its derivatives, although the source and nature of the heme remain controversial. Artemisinins also exhibit selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrate that intracellular heme is the physiologically relevant mediator of the cytotoxic effects of artemisinins. Increasing intracellular heme synthesis through the addition of aminolevulinic acid, protoporphyrin IX, or transferrin-bound iron increased the cytotoxicity of dihydroartemisinin, while decreasing heme synthesis through the addition of succinyl acetone decreased its cytotoxic activity. A simple and robust high throughput assay was developed to screen chemical compounds that were capable of interacting with heme. A natural products library was screened which identified the compound coralyne, in addition to artemisinin, as a heme interacting compound with heme synthesis dependent cytotoxic activity. These results indicate that cellular heme may serve a general target for the development of both anti-parasitic and anti-cancer therapeutics. Citation: Zhang S, Gerhard GS (2009) Heme Mediates Cytotoxicity from Artemisinin and Serves as a General Anti-Proliferation Target. PLoS ONE 4(10): e7472. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007472 Editor: Ashley I. Bush, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Australia Received July 9, 2009; Accepted August 28, 2009; Published October 28, 2009 Copyright: 2009 Zhang, Gerhard. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Co