The Anticancer Mechanisms of Digitoxin

The Anticancer Mechanisms of Digitoxin

Neha Gupta¹, Reem Eldawud¹, Cerasela Zoica Dinu¹

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506

Digitoxin is a cardioglycoside with anti-proliferative effects on cancer cells. In general, cardiac glycosides inhibit the sodium-potassium pump requiring cells to stimulate the sodium-calcium exchange pump. While still under debate, it is suggested that digitoxin activates sodium-potassium signalosome to transmit intracellular signals. Here, we propose to examine the digitoxin effects on immortalized BEAS-2B lung cells and NCLSC cancer cells migration. During development, cells undergo dramatic migrations which influence determination, differentiation, and morphogenesis. When targeted by toxic reagents, these processes are often disrupted and could lead to mutations. To study cell migration, our analysis combines optical microscopy, migration assays, and real time impedance spectroscopy (ECIS) before and after exposure to a cardiac glycoside (i.e. digitoxin). Our results showed that there is a dose dependent response of the digitoxin concentration, with the effects on cancer cells being more pronounced than the effects of the drug on the immortalized lung cells. This study will allow for a better understanding of digitoxin’s potential as an anti-cancer medicine and thus the development of effective lung cancer therapies. It is important to understand the effect of digitoxin at varying concentrations on cellular migration and any associated impacts on its selective killing of cancer cells.