Dauricine attenuates Oct4/sonic hedgehog co‐activated stemness and induces reactive oxygen species‐mediated mitochondrial apoptosis via AKT/β‐catenin signaling in human neuroblastoma and glioblastoma stem‐like cells

Abstract Neuroblastoma and glioblastoma are primary malignant tumors of the nervous system, with frequent relapse and limited clinical therapeutic drugs. The failure of their treatment is due to the tumor cells exhibiting cancer stem‐like cells (CSLCs) properties. Octamer binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) is involved in mediating CSLCs, our previous work found that Oct4‐driven reprogramming of astrocytes into induced neural stem cells was potentiated with continuous sonic hedgehog (Shh) stimulation. In this study, we aimed to study the importance of Oct4 and Shh combination in the stemness properties induction of neuroblastoma and glioblastoma cells, and evaluate the anti‐stemness effect of dauricine (DAU), a natural product of bis‐benzylisoquinoline alkaloid. The effect of Oct4 and Shh co‐activation on cancer stemness was evaluated by tumor spheres formation model and flow cytometry analysis. Then the effects of DAU on SH‐SY5Y and T98‐G cells were assessed by the MTT, colony formation, and tumor spheres formation model. DAU acts on Oct4 were verified using the Western blotting, MTT, and so on. Mechanistic studies were explored by siRNA transfection assay, Western blotting, and flow cytometry analysis. We identified that Shh effectively improved Oct4‐mediated generation of stemness in SH‐SY5Y and T98‐G cells, and Oct4 and Shh co‐activation promoted cell growth, the resistance of apoptosis. In addition, DAU, a natural product, was found to be able to attenuate Oct4/Shh co‐activated stemness and induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via blocking AKT/β‐catenin signaling in neuroblastoma and glioblastoma, which contributed to the neuroblastoma and glioblastoma cells growth inhibition by DAU. In summary, our results indicated that the treatment of DAU may be served as a potential therapeutic method in neuroblastoma and glioblastoma.