Purple sweet potato anthocyanins elicit calcium overload-induced cell death by inhibiting the calcium-binding protein S100A4 in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of purple sweet potato anthocyanins (PSPAs) on acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the anticancer properties of PSPAs. The results showed that PSPAs significantly suppressed cell proliferation by inducing obvious G2/M phase arrest. In addition, PSPAs dramatically increased the intracellular Ca2+ levels, thereby leading to calcium overload-induced cell death. Furthermore, to evaluate the relevant mechanism, bioinformatic, subcellular localization, molecular docking, and Western blot analyses were performed. PSPAs induced calcium overload by inhibiting the protein expression of S100A4. An additional assay combining S100A4 induction and PSPA treatment reconfirmed that S100A4 was the potential target of PSPAs and that PSPAs mainly exerted their antileukemic effects through the p38/c-Myc/CDK1-Cyclin B axis. Our findings indicate that PSPAs are promising therapeutic agents for ALL.