A Novel 3‐Benzyloxychromone From <i>Celastrus orbiculatus</i> Thunb. Exhibits Anticancer Effects on Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells via GSK‐3β–Dependent c‐Jun/ATF2 Pathway

Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb. is a vine used as a traditional Chinese medicinal herb. In this study, we focused on the anticancer cytotoxicity and underlying mechanism of previously unreported 3-oxygen-substituted isoflavone analogue (3-benzyloxychromone, 3-Boc) from the herb. Initially, we established cell line-derived xenograft mouse model using H1299 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells and found that the ethanol crude extracts of the stem part of C. orbiculatus (200 mg/kg) could substantially suppress the growth of xenograft tumors in athymic nu/nu mice. We compared 3-Boc with three other flavonoid analogues isolated from the stem part of C. orbiculatus. Among these, 3-Boc showed the most potent cytotoxicity against H1299 and H1975 NSCLC cells. Colony formation, EdU incorporation and Annexin V-FITC/PI apoptosis assays demonstrated that 3-Boc induced growth inhibition primarily by inhibiting DNA replication and inducing apoptotic death of NSCLC cells. Structure-based target prediction and MD simulation suggested that 3-Boc potentially suppressed the activity of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) by interacting with the ATP-binding site. Western blot analysis indicated that 3-Boc triggered the phosphorylation of Serine 21 of GSK-3α or Serine 9 of GSK-3β in a time- and dose-dependent manner. To investigate the dependency of GSK-3β, we established GSK-3β knockout in H1299 cells. Depletion of GSK-3β enhanced 3-Boc-induced cytotoxicity compared with wild-type counterparts through activated c-Jun/ATF2 signaling pathway. Altogether, our study highlights the anticancer potential of C. orbiculatus and the discovery of novel 3-oxygen-substituted chromone from the herb, which may have important implications for screening promising modulators of GSK-3β and related signaling pathways in the treatment of cancer.