Lung cancer is the most frequent malignant
tumor, and
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is responsible for substantial mortality worldwide. The small molecule
SNX-2112 was recently shown to critically effect the proliferation and apoptosis of
tumor cells. Nevertheless, the precise mechanism by which
SNX-2112 affects NSCLC remains poorly understood. Therefore, we investigated the function of
SNX-2112 in NSCLC. We verified that
SNX-2112 promoted apoptosis and suppressed the proliferation, invasion, and migration of A549 and H520 NSCLC cells in vitro. We further verified the potential mechanism of
SNX-2112 in NSCLC. The changes in the
protein levels demonstrated that
SNX-2112 inhibited the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) (increased
E-cadherin and decreased
N-cadherin and
vimentin) and the Wnt/β-
catenin signaling pathway (
glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3β and phosphorylated (p)-β-
catenin increased, β-
catenin and p-GSK3β decreased) in NSCLC cells. These results were verified by rescue experiments using a Wnt/β-
catenin pathway agonist. We also established a
tumor xenograft model and confirmed that
SNX-2112 reduced
tumor growth and proliferation and enhanced
necrosis and apoptosis in a NSCLC model in vivo. In conclusion, the current study is the first to discover the mechanism of
SNX-2112 in NSCLC.
SNX-2112 induced apoptosis and also inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and migration of NSCLC cells by downregulating EMT via the Wnt/β-
catenin signaling pathway.