Abstract
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Moreover, exploring efficient tumor-killing drugs is urgently needed. In our study, several derivative compounds of myricetin were synthesized and tested. Experiments on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed that S4-2-2 (5,7-dimethoxy-3-(4-(methyl(1-(naphthalen-2-ylsulfonyl)piperidin-4-yl)amino)butoxy)-2-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4H-chromen-4-one) had the strongest effect on A549 cell inhibition across all compounds. Furthermore, S4-2-2-treated A549 cells were also suppressed when transplanted into immunodeficient mice. Particularly, we found that the migration and invasiveness of A549 cells became suppressed upon treatment with S4-2-2. Furthermore, the compound significantly induced cell apoptosis, but did not affect the cell cycle of A549 cells. Finally, we revealed that S4-2-2 inhibited the biological function of NSCLC cells by regulating the protein process in the endoplasmic reticulum, and then by inducing the expression of apoptosis-related proteins. Taken together, S4-2-2 was shown to act as a potential molecular inhibitor of A549 cells.