Dactylone inhibits epidermal growth factor-induced transformation and phenotype expression of human cancer cells and induces G₁-S arrest and apoptosis

The marine natural chamigrane-type sesquiterpenoid, dactylone, is closely related to secondary metabolites of some edible species of red algae. In the present study, the effect of dactylone was tested on the mouse skin epidermal JB6 P⁺ Cl41 cell line and its stable transfectants as well as on several human tumor cell lines, including lung (H460), colon (HCT-116), and skin melanomas (SK-MEL-5 and SK-MEL-28). This natural product was effective at nontoxic doses as a cancer-preventive agent, which exerted its actions, at least in part, through the inhibition of cyclin D3 and Cdk4 expression and retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (Rb) phosphorylation. The inhibition of these cell cycle components was followed by cell cycle arrest at the G ₁-S transition with subsequent p53-independent apoptosis. Therefore, these data showed that application of dactylone and related compounds may lead to decreased malignant cell transformation and/or decreased tumor cell proliferation.