Potent antitumor actions of the new antibiotic boningmycin through induction of apoptosis and cellular senescence

Boningmycin, a new antibiotic of the bleomycin family, is isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces verticillus var. pingyangensis n.sp. This study aimed to evaluate its antitumor actions and mechanism. The results showed that boningmycin exhibited potent inhibitory effects on several human solid tumor cells and that it was stronger than bleomycin. The administration of boningmycin inhibited the growth of human hepatoma HepG2 xenografts in nude mice, with more efficacy than that of bleomycin. Boningmycin led to an increase of the reactive oxygen species involving iron and caused G2/M phase accumulation in the HepG2 and human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Two types of cell death, apoptosis and senescence, were detected after exposure to boningmycin. The accumulation of sub-G1 phase cells, an index of apoptosis, and the activation of caspase apoptotic pathways were detected after treatment with higher concentrations of boningmycin. Low concentrations of boningmycin led to a senescent phenotype with an increase in senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity and the time-dependent increase of p21, p27, and p53 expressions from 48 to120 h. Taken together, the results showed that boningmycin exhibits potent antitumor actions through the induction of apoptosis and cellular senescence.