A novel retinoic acid analog, 4-amino-2-trifluoromethyl-phenyl retinate, inhibits gastric cancer cell growth

Retinoic acid (RA) analogs have been used in the treatment of a variety of cancers; however, their application is limited due to serious therapy-related sequelae. In the present study, the effects of a novel RA analog, 4-amino-2-trifluoromethyl-phenyl retinate (ATPR), on the growth of gastric cancer cells were evaluated. Three gastric cancer cell lines, AGS, MKN-74 and SC-M1, were treated with either alltrans retinoic acid (ATRA) or ATPR, and their growth and distribution in different cell cycle phases were assessed using an MTT assay and propidium iodide (PI) staining followed by flow cytometry. The binding affinity of ATPR to the retinoic acid receptors, retinoic acid receptor-α (RAR-α) and retinoid X receptor-α (RXR-α), was determined using ligand-binding assays. Activator protein-1 (AP-1) activity was measured using a luciferase reporter assay. Western blot analysis was used to determine cyclin E, Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression. ATPR preferentially bound RXR-α (0.04 nM) as compared with RAR-α (20.96 nM). Although both ATRA and ATPR inhibited the growth of AGS, MKN-74 and SC-M1 cells in a dose-dependent manner, a significantly greater inhibitory effect was observed with treatment with 5 and 500 µM ATPR for 3 days (P<0.05). In addition, ATPR (50 µM), but not ATRA, significantly increased the population of AGS and MKN-74 cells in the subG1 phase and decreased the Bcl-2/Bax ratio (P<0.05). Furthermore, in MNK-74 and SC-M1 cells treated with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and 5 or 10 µM of ATPR significantly suppressed the activity of the AP-1 reporter as compared to treatment with ATRA (P<0.05). Thus, ATPR inhibits cancer cell proliferation to a greater extent compared to ATRA, possibly through the RXR-mediated inhibition of AP-1 activity.