8-Hydroxyquinoline a natural chelating agent from Streptomyces spp. inhibits A549 lung cancer cell lines via BCL2/STAT3 regulating pathways.

Biomolecules from Streptomyces spp. are emerging sources of natural drugs and have been focused on over the decade. The discovery of bioactive chemotherapeutic molecules from soil Streptomyces spp. has opened the medium for the search for natural drugs. In the current study, 8-HOQ was extracted and purified from soil Streptomyces spp. and was evaluated on A549 and BEAS cell lines. The apoptotic and caspase mediated pathways were evaluated using cell proliferation, dual fluorescent staining, migration, invasion and mRNA as well as protein quantification of apoptotic markers. In vitro cytotoxicity test revealed that 8-HOQ possesses potent cytotoxicity activities with IC ₅₀  values of 26 µM, 5 µM, 7.2 µM at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h respectively against A549 lung cancer cell lines. The result also demonstrated that 8-HOQ from Streptomyces spp significantly inhibited the A549 lung cancer cell lines and activated the intrinsic pathways of apoptosis. The caspase-3 and caspase-8 activities were potentially elevated in 8-HOQ treated A549 cell lines and confirmed that 8-HOQ mediated A549 cancer cell death through the intrinsic pathway. The results explored caspase-mediated apoptosis as a mechanism underlying the inhibition of cancer cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. The expression of P53, BCL2 and STAT3 were inhibited in A549 cell lines and confirmed the metastasis inhibitory potential of 8-HOQ by blocking migration and invasion in A549 cell lines. These results indicated that 8-HOQ from Streptomyces spp. potentially inhibited growth and migration of A549 lung cancer cell lines.
(© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)