Evodiamine inhibits stemness and metastasis by altering the SOX9–β‐catenin axis in non‐small‐cell lung cancer

Evodiamine (EVO), a natural dietary alkaloid extracted from the roots of the Evodia rutaecarpa, has shown anticancer activities. Here, we have investigated EVO's role in inhibiting cell proliferation and migration in A549 and NCI-H522 lung cancer cells. EVO decreased the cell viability in A549 and NCI-H522 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. It also induced apoptosis by downregulating the expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and upregulating the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and PARP. In addition, the treatment of EVO elevated the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation inside the cells to induce the cell death pathways. In contrast, the pretreatment of ROS scavenger, N-acetyl cysteine, reverses the effect of EVO and attenuates cell death. Moreover, excess ROS generation in response to EVO resulted in the depletion of mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, it induced DNA damage and arrested the cell cycle at the G2/M phase in A549 and NCI-H522 cells. Our study also investigated that EVO significantly suppressed tumorigenicity by inhibiting colony formation and tumorsphere formation. However, the treatment of EVO downregulated the cancer stem cell markers CD44 and CD133 in non-small-cell lung cancer. The inhibitory effect of EVO on cell invasion was mediated by altering the expression of E-cadherin, ZO-1, N-cadherin, and Vimentin. Additionally, we have revealed that EVO treatment showed downregulation of SOX9, an upstream component of β-catenin. Lastly, we have demonstrated that EVO targets the SOX9-β-catenin axis by reducing SOX9 and β-catenin expression. These findings suggested that EVO could be a promising agent for treating human lung cancer.