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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1572364
Dehydroleucodine Exerts an Antiproliferative Effect on Human Burkitt's Lymphoma Daudi Cells via SLC7A11-mediated Ferroptosis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Chongqing Public Health Medical Center, Chongqing, China
- 2 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, South-Central MinZu University, Wuhan, China
- 3 Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
Background: Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is a rare, highly aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma known for rapid proliferation. While most patients respond well to intensive chemotherapy, those who are older, have comorbidities, or develop therapy resistance show limited outcomes.Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the in vitro anti-tumor activity of dehydroleucodine (DhL), a novel plant-derived chemotherapeutic agent, against BL cells and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying its effects.Methods: A screening of 42 plant-derived small molecules identified DhL as a potent inhibitor of BL growth. We evaluated DhL's effects on cell cycle progression, apoptosis, and ferroptosis pathways using cell viability assays, flow cytometry, transcriptomic analysis, and validation experiments. Results: DhL demonstrated robust and specific anti-proliferative effects against BL Daudi cells. Mechanistic investigations revealed that DhL exerts its effects through cell cycle modulation, induction of apoptosis, and ferroptosis. Transcriptomic analysis identified SLC7A11 as a critical regulator of DhL-mediated ferroptosis, which was further validated experimentally. Conclusion: DhL shows strong potential as a novel chemotherapeutic agent for BL treatment by targeting SLC7A11-mediated ferroptosis. Further investigation is warranted to confirm its efficacy and clinical utility in diverse BL patient populations.
Keywords: Dehydroleucodine, Burkitt's lymphoma, Cell death, Ferroptosis, Solute carrier family 7 member 11 BL, Burkitt's lymphoma, DhL, dehydroleucodine, TRM, treatmentrelated mortality, LPO, lipid peroxidation, GSH, Glutathione, SL, sesquiterpene lactone, SLC7A11, solute carrier family 7 member 11, MMP, mitochondrial membrane potential
Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shen, Cheng, Guo, Wang, Yang, CHEN and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yemiao CHEN, Chongqing Public Health Medical Center, Chongqing, China
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