Background/aim: The Jamaican "Guinea Hen Weed" (Petiveria alliacea L.) plant has been traditionally used in folklore medicine to treat a variety of diseases including cancer. In the present study we investigated on the therapeutic feasibility of dibenzyl trisulfide (DTS) (isolated from the Jamaican Guinea Hen Weed) as a potent small-molecule kinase inhibitor to treat cancer.
Materials and methods: We investigated the inhibitory effects of DTS against a large panel of kinases using a well-established competitive binding assay. Cell proliferation data were obtained using the WST-1 colorimetric assay.
Results: DTS inhibited the activity of the C-terminal kinase domain of RSK1 (80% compared to control) with a Kd of 1.3 μM. Anti-proliferative effects of DTS were observed in small lung, pancreatic, breast, and prostate cancer cells with IC50 values ranging from 0.34-0.84 μM.
Conclusion: We have identified DTS as a highly selective and isoform-specific RSK1 kinase inhibitor with broad cancer therapeutic potential.
Keywords: Jamaican Guinea Hen weed; Petiveria alliacea; RSK; cancer; dibenzyl trisulfide; kinase inhibitor.