Lung cancer remains a leading public health problem as evidenced by its increasing death rate. The main cause of death in
lung cancer patients is
cancer metastasis. The metastatic behavior of
lung cancer cells becomes enhanced when
cancer cells undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT).
Gigantol, a bibenzyl compound extracted from the Thai orchid, Dendrobium draconis, has been shown to have promising therapeutic potential against
cancer cells, which leads to the hypothesis that
gigantol may be able to inhibit the fundamental EMT process in
cancer cells. This study has demonstrated for the first time that
gigantol possesses the ability to suppress EMT in
non-small cell lung cancer H460 cells. Western blot analysis has revealed that
gigantol attenuates the activity of
ATP-dependent
tyrosine kinase (AKT), thereby inhibiting the expression of the major EMT
transcription factor, Slug, by both decreasing its transcription and increasing its degradation. The inhibitory effects of
gigantol on EMT result in a decrease in the level of migration in H460
lung cancer cells. The results of this study emphasize the potential of
gigantol for further development against
lung cancer metastasis.