The garlic compound ajoene covalently binds vimentin, disrupts the vimentin network and exerts anti-metastatic activity in cancer cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Garlic has been used for centuries for its flavour and health promoting properties that include protection against cancer. The vinyl disulfide-sulfoxide ajoene is one of the phytochemicals found in crushed cloves, hypothesised to act by S-thiolating reactive cysteines in target proteins.

Methods

Using our fluorescently labelled ajoene analogue called dansyl-ajoene, ajoene's protein targets in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells were tagged and separated by 2D electrophoresis. A predominant band was identified by MALDI-TOF MS/MS to be vimentin. Target validation experiments were performed using pure recombinant vimentin protein. Computational modelling of vimentin bound to ajoene was performed using Schrödinger and pK_a calculations by Epik software. Cytotoxic

SUBMITTER: Kaschula CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6425727 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature