Lonafarnib is a potential inhibitor for neovascularization

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 8;10(4):e0122830. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122830. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a common cardiovascular disease that involves the build-up of plaque on the inner walls of the arteries. Intraplaque neovacularization has been shown to be essential in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Previous studies showed that small-molecule compounds targeting farnesyl transferase have the ability to prevent atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice, but the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. In this study, we found that lonafarnib, a specific inhibitor of farnesyl transferase, elicits inhibitory effect on vascular endothelial capillary assembly in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, we showed that lonafarnib treatment led to a dose-dependent decrease in scratch wound closure in vitro, whereas it had little effect on endothelial cell proliferation. These data indicate that lonafarnib inhibits neovascularization via directly targeting endothelial cells and disturbing their motility. Moreover, we demonstrated that pharmacological inhibition of farnesyl transferase by lonafarnib significantly impaired centrosome reorientation toward the leading edge of endothelial cells. Mechanistically, we found that the catalytic β subunit of farnesyl transferase associated with a cytoskeletal protein important for the establishment and maintenance of cell polarity. Additionally, we showed that lonafarnib remarkably inhibited the expression of the cytoskeletal protein and interrupted its interaction with farnesyl transferase. Our findings thus offer novel mechanistic insight into the protective effect of farnesyl transferase inhibitors on atherosclerosis and provide encouraging evidence for the potential use of this group of agents in inhibiting plaque neovascularization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / biosynthesis*
  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / genetics
  • Animals
  • Apolipoproteins E / genetics
  • Atherosclerosis / drug therapy*
  • Atherosclerosis / enzymology
  • Atherosclerosis / physiopathology
  • Cell Polarity / genetics
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics
  • Endothelial Cells / drug effects
  • Endothelial Cells / pathology
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / drug therapy*
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / enzymology
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / pathology
  • Piperidines / administration & dosage*
  • Pyridines / administration & dosage*

Substances

  • Apolipoproteins E
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • Piperidines
  • Pyridines
  • Alkyl and Aryl Transferases
  • p21(ras) farnesyl-protein transferase
  • lonafarnib

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (31301160) and Tianjin Municipal Health Bureau (2011KZ107).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.