Database Query Results : Betulinic acid, , AMPK

BetA, Betulinic acid: Click to Expand ⟱
Features:
Betulinic acid "buh-TOO-li-nik acid" is a natural compound with antiretroviral, anti malarial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. It is found in the bark of several plants, such as white birch, ber tree and rosemary, and has a complex mode of action against tumor cells.
-Betulinic acid is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid
-vitro concentrations range from 1–100 µM, in vivo studies in rodents have generally used doses from 10–100 mg/kg
Precursor: Betulin, via oxidation at C-28
Lipophilicity: High (poor aqueous solubility)
-half-life reports vary 3-5 hrs?. Reported half-life varies by formulation and species; several studies report multi-hour systemic persistence.
BioAv -hydrophobic molecule with relatively poor water solubility. 
Main Cancer action
-Direct mitochondrial targeting in cancer cells
-Minimal effect on normal cells

Key pathways
-Mitochondrial membrane permeabilization
-ROS-mediated apoptosis
-Caspase-independent death

Chemo relevance: Generally compatible, Not a redox buffer

Pathways:
- often induce ROS production
- ROS↑ related: MMP↓(ΔΨm), ER Stress↑, UPR↑, GRP78↑, Ca+2↑, Cyt‑c↑, Caspases↑, DNA damage↑, cl-PARP↑, HSP↓
- Lowers AntiOxidant defense in Cancer Cells(Often associated with reduced redox buffering capacity in tumor cells (e.g., GSH depletion); NRF2 direction model-dependent.): NRF2↓, SOD↓, GSH↓
- May Raise AntiOxidant defense in Normal Cells: NRF2↑, SOD↑, GSH↑, Catalase↑ Reports suggest relative sparing of normal cells and preservation of antioxidant capacity in some models
- lowers Inflammation : NF-kB↓(typ), COX2↓, p38↓ (context-dependent; often stress-activated), Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines : IL-1β↓, TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, IL-8↓
- inhibit Growth/Metastases : , MMPs↓, MMP2↓, MMP9↓, TIMP2, IGF-1↓, VEGF↓, ROCK1↓, FAK↓, NF-κB↓, TGF-β↓, α-SMA↓, ERK↓
- reactivate genes thereby inhibiting cancer cell growth : P53↑, HSP↓(model-dependent), Sp proteins↓,
- cause Cell cycle arrest : TumCCA↑, cyclin D1↓, CDK2↓, CDK4↓,
- inhibits Migration/Invasion : TumCMig↓, TumCI↓, FAK↓, ERK↓, EMT↓, TOP1↓,
- inhibits glycolysis (secondary to mitochondrial stress) ATP depletion : HIF-1α↓, PKM2↓, cMyc↓, GLUT1↓, LDH↓, LDHA↓, HK2↓, PFKs↓, PDKs↓, HK2↓, ECAR↓, GRP78↑(ER stress), GlucoseCon↓
- inhibits angiogenesis↓ : VEGF↓, HIF-1α↓, EGFR↓,
- inhibits Cancer Stem Cells in some studies : CSC↓, GLi1↓, β-catenin↓, OCT4↓,
- Others: PI3K↓(typ), AKT↓(typ), JAK↓, STAT↓, β-catenin↓, AMPK↓(AMPK is often activated during metabolic stress), ERK↓, JNK,
- Synergies: chemo-sensitization, chemoProtective, RadioSensitizer, Others(review target notes), Neuroprotective, Cognitive, Renoprotection, Hepatoprotective, CardioProtective,
- Selectivity: Cancer Cells vs Normal Cells

Rank Pathway / Axis Cancer Cells Normal Cells TSF Primary Effect Notes / Interpretation
1 Intrinsic apoptosis (mitochondrial-mediated) ↑ mitochondria depolarization; ↑ cytochrome-c; ↑ caspase-9/3 activation ↔ limited activation (higher exposure required) R, G Execution of apoptosis Betulinic acid (BA) is well known to engage the intrinsic apoptotic cascade, typically downstream of redox and signaling perturbations.
2 ROS / redox stress ↑ ROS (P→R) ↔ basal or antioxidant adaptation in some contexts P, R Stress induction Many studies report ROS elevation in tumor cells exposed to BA; the direction and magnitude vary by cell type and exposure.
3 Mitochondrial permeability transition / ΔΨm loss ΔΨm ↓ (R→G) ↔ maintained R, G Mitochondrial failure Often observed as an early event preceding caspase activation in apoptosis studies.
4 PI3K / AKT / mTOR survival axis ↓ PI3K/AKT signaling; ↓ phospho-mTOR ↔ R, G Survival/growth suppression Betulinic acid often downregulates pro-survival kinase signaling, sensitizing cells to apoptosis and cytostasis.
5 NF-κB signaling ↓ NF-κB activity ↔ R, G Pro-survival/inflammatory transcription suppression Reduction in NF-κB activity limits pro-survival gene expression; supports sensitization to stressors.
6 MAPK re-wiring (JNK / ERK / p38) Stress-MAPK shifts; JNK/p38 often ↑; ERK context-dependent ↔ P, R Early stress signaling MAPK responses vary by model, with stress-associated p38/JNK often activated and ERK modulation variable.
7 Cell-cycle checkpoints (p21, p27, cyclins) ↑ p21/p27; ↑ G1/S or G2/M arrest ↔ G Proliferation arrest BA often induces cell-cycle blockade, slowing proliferation before apoptosis commitment.
8 Angiogenic signaling (VEGF & related) ↓ VEGF; anti-angiogenic outputs ↔ G Anti-angiogenic support Typically seen at the level of reduced pro-angiogenic factor expression or secretion in longer-term assays.
9 EMT / invasion / migration programs (MMPs) ↓ MMP2/MMP9; ↓ migration/invasion ↔ G Anti-invasive phenotype Often measured as reduced invasive capacity and decreased expression of EMT markers in later time points.
10 Autophagy modulation ↑ LC3-II; ↑ autophagic flux (model dependent) ↔ G Adaptive clearance / cell fate shift BA can modulate autophagy, which may either sensitize cells to death pathways or reflect adaptive stress responses.

Time-Scale Flag (TSF): P / R / G

  • P: 0–30 min (primary/physical-chemical effects; rapid kinase/redox signaling)
  • R: 30 min–3 hr (acute redox and stress-response activation)
  • G: >3 hr (gene-regulatory adaptation and phenotypic outcomes)
AMPK, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase: Click to Expand ⟱
Source:
Type:
AMPK: guardian of metabolism and mitochondrial homeostasis; Upon changes in the ATP-to-AMP ratio, AMPK is activated. (AMPK) is a key metabolic sensor that is pivotal for the maintenance of cellular energy homeostasis. It is well documented that AMPK possesses a suppressor role in the context of tumor development and progression by modulating the inflammatory and metabolic pathways.

-Activating AMPK can inhibit anabolic processes and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway reducing glycolysis shifting toward Oxidative Phosphorlylation.


AMPK activators:
-metformin or AICAR
-Resveratrol: activate AMPK indirectly
-Berberine
-Quercetin: may stimulate AMPK
-EGCG: thought to activate AMPK
-Curcumin: may activate AMPK

-Ginsenosides: Some ginsenosides have been associated with AMPK activation -Beta-Lapachone: A natural naphthoquinone compound found in the bark of Tabebuia avellanedae (also known as lapacho or taheebo). It has been observed to activate AMPK in certain models.
-Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA): associated with AMPK activation
Scientific Papers found: Click to Expand⟱
2729- BetA,    Betulinic acid in the treatment of tumour diseases: Application and research progress
- Review, Var, NA
ChemoSen↑, Betulinic acid can increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to other chemotherapy drugs
mt-ROS↑, BA has antitumour activity, and its mechanisms of action mainly include the induction of mitochondrial oxidative stress
STAT3↓, inhibition of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 and nuclear factor-κB signalling pathways.
NF-kB↓,
selectivity↑, A main advantage of BA and its derivatives is that they are cytotoxic to different human tumour cells, while cytotoxicity is much lower in normal cells.
*toxicity↓, It can kill cancer cells but has no obvious effect on normal cells and is also nontoxic to other organs in xenograft mice at a dose of 500 mg/kg
eff↑, BA combined with chemotherapy drugs, such as platinum and mithramycin A, can induce apoptosis in tumour cells
GRP78/BiP↑, In animal xenograft tumour models, BA enhanced the expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78)
MMP2↓, reduced the levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), such as MMP-2 and MMP-9, in lung metastatic lesions of breast cancer, indicating that BA can reduce the invasiveness of breast cancer in vivo and block epithelial mesenchymal transformation (EMT
P90RSK↓,
TumCI↓,
EMT↓,
MALAT1↓, MALAT1, a lncRNA, was downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells treated with BA in vivo,
Glycolysis↓, Suppressing aerobic glycolysis of cancer cells by GRP78/β-Catenin/c-Myc signalling pathways
AMPK↑, activating AMPK signaling pathway
Sp1/3/4↓, inhibiting Sp1. BA at 20 mg/kg/d, the tumour volume and weight were significantly reduced, and the expression levels of Sp1, Sp3, and Sp4 in tumour tissues were lower than those in control mouse tissues
Hif1a↓, Suppressing the hypoxia-induced accumulation of HIF-1α and expression of HIF target genes
angioG↓, PC3: Having anti-angiogenesis effect
NF-kB↑, LNCaP, DU145 — Inducing apoptosis and NF-κB pathway
NF-kB↓, U266 — Inhibiting NF-κB pathway.
MMP↓, BA produces ROS and reduces mitochondrial membrane potential; the mitochondrial permeability transition pore of the mitochondrial membrane plays an important role in apoptosis signal transduction.
Cyt‑c↑, Mitochondria release cytochrome C and increase the levels of Caspase-9 and Caspase-3, inducing cell apoptosis.
Casp9↑,
Casp3↑,
RadioS↑, BA could be a promising drug for increasing radiosensitization in oral squamous cell carcinoma radiotherapy.
PERK↑, BA treatment increased the activation of the protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK)/C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) apoptosis pathway and decreased the expression of Sp1.
CHOP↑,
*toxicity↓, BA at a concentration of 50 μg/ml did not inhibit the growth of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes, indicating that the toxicity of BA was at least 1000 times less than that of doxorubicin

2730- BetA,    Betulinic acid induces autophagy-dependent apoptosis via Bmi-1/ROS/AMPK-mTOR-ULK1 axis in human bladder cancer cells
- in-vitro, Bladder, T24/HTB-9
tumCV↓, The present study showed that BA exposure significantly suppressed viability, proliferation, and migration of EJ and T24 human bladder cancer cells
TumCP↓,
TumCMig↓,
Casp↑, These effects reflected caspase 3-mediated apoptosis
TumAuto↑, BA-induced autophagy was evidenced by epifluorescence imaging of lentivirus-induced expression of mCherry-GFP-LC3B and increased expression of two autophagy-related proteins, LC3B-II and TEM.
LC3B-II↑,
p‑AMPK↑, Moreover, enhanced AMPK phosphorylation and decreased mTOR and ULK-1 phosphorylation suggested BA activates autophagy via the AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 pathway.
mTOR↓,
BMI1↓, decreased Bmi-1 expression in BA-treated T24 cell xenografts in nude mice suggested that downregulation of Bmi-1 is the underlying mechanism in BA-mediated, autophagy-dependent apoptosis.
ROS↑, BA induced ROS production dose-dependently
eff↓, Co-incubation with NAC effectively blocked ROS production (Figure 4B), rescued cell viability,

2736- BetA,  Chemo,    Multifunctional Roles of Betulinic Acid in Cancer Chemoprevention: Spotlight on JAK/STAT, VEGF, EGF/EGFR, TRAIL/TRAIL-R, AKT/mTOR and Non-Coding RNAs in the Inhibition of Carcinogenesis and Metastasis
- Review, Var, NA
chemoPv↑, reviews about cancer chemopreventive role of betulinic acid against wide variety of cancers [18,19,20,21].
p‑STAT3↓, betulinic acid reduced the levels of p-STAT3 in tumor tissues derived from KB cells
JAK1↓, Betulinic acid exerted inhibitory effects on the constitutive phosphorylation of JAK1 and JAK2
JAK2↓,
VEGF↓, betulinic acid mediated inhibition of VEGF
EGFR↓, evaluation of betulinic acid as a next-generation EGFR inhibitor
Cyt‑c↑, release of SMAC/DIABLO and cytochrome c from mitochondria in SHEP neuroblastoma cells
Diablo↑,
AMPK↑, Betulinic acid induced activation of AMPK and consequently reduced the activation of mTOR.
mTOR↓,
Sp1/3/4↓, Betulinic acid significantly reduced the quantities of Sp1, Sp3 and Sp4 in the tissues of the tumors derived from RKO cells
DNAdam↑, Betulinic acid efficiently triggered DNA damage (γH2AX) and apoptosis (caspase-3 and p53 phosphorylation) in temozolomide-sensitive and temozolomide-resistant glioblastoma cells.
Gli1↓, Betulinic acid effectively reduced GLI1, GLI2 and PTCH1 in RMS-13 cells.
GLI2↓,
PTCH1↓,
MMP2↓, betulinic acid exerted inhibitory effects on MMP-2 and MMP-9 in HepG2 cells.
MMP9↓,
miR-21↓, Collectively, p53 increased miR-21 levels and inhibited SOD2 levels, leading to significant increase in the accumulation of ROS levels and apoptotic cell death.
SOD2↓,
ROS↑,
Apoptosis↑,

2739- BetA,    Glycolytic Switch in Response to Betulinic Acid in Non-Cancer Cells
- in-vitro, Nor, HUVECs - in-vitro, Nor, MEF
*Glycolysis↑, BA elevates the rates of cellular glucose uptake and aerobic glycolysis in mouse embryonic fibroblasts with concomitant reduction of glucose oxidation.
*GlucoseCon↑, BA increases cellular glucose uptake
*Apoptosis↓, Without eliciting signs of obvious cell death BA leads to compromised mitochondrial function, increased expression of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP) 1 and 2, and liver kinase B1 (LKB1)-dependent activation AMP-activated protein kinase.
*UCP1↓,
*AMPK↑, AMPK activation accounts for the increased glucose uptake and glycolysis which in turn are indispensable for cell viability upon BA treatment.
GLUT1↑, The expression of glucose transporter GLUT1 was elevated upon BA treatment for 16 h
mt-ROS↑, We observed increased production of mitochondrial ROS (Fig. 4A) and elevated expression of uncoupling proteins UCP1 and UCP2 in BA-treated MEF


* indicates research on normal cells as opposed to diseased cells
Total Research Paper Matches: 4

Pathway results for Effect on Cancer / Diseased Cells:


Redox & Oxidative Stress ⓘ

ROS↑, 2,   mt-ROS↑, 2,   SOD2↓, 1,  

Mitochondria & Bioenergetics ⓘ

MMP↓, 1,  

Core Metabolism/Glycolysis ⓘ

AMPK↑, 2,   p‑AMPK↑, 1,   Glycolysis↓, 1,  

Cell Death ⓘ

Apoptosis↑, 1,   Casp↑, 1,   Casp3↑, 1,   Casp9↑, 1,   Cyt‑c↑, 2,   Diablo↑, 1,  

Kinase & Signal Transduction ⓘ

Sp1/3/4↓, 2,  

Transcription & Epigenetics ⓘ

miR-21↓, 1,   tumCV↓, 1,  

Protein Folding & ER Stress ⓘ

CHOP↑, 1,   GRP78/BiP↑, 1,   PERK↑, 1,  

Autophagy & Lysosomes ⓘ

LC3B-II↑, 1,   TumAuto↑, 1,  

DNA Damage & Repair ⓘ

DNAdam↑, 1,  

Proliferation, Differentiation & Cell State ⓘ

BMI1↓, 1,   EMT↓, 1,   Gli1↓, 1,   mTOR↓, 2,   P90RSK↓, 1,   PTCH1↓, 1,   STAT3↓, 1,   p‑STAT3↓, 1,  

Migration ⓘ

GLI2↓, 1,   MALAT1↓, 1,   MMP2↓, 2,   MMP9↓, 1,   TumCI↓, 1,   TumCMig↓, 1,   TumCP↓, 1,  

Angiogenesis & Vasculature ⓘ

angioG↓, 1,   EGFR↓, 1,   Hif1a↓, 1,   VEGF↓, 1,  

Barriers & Transport ⓘ

GLUT1↑, 1,  

Immune & Inflammatory Signaling ⓘ

JAK1↓, 1,   JAK2↓, 1,   NF-kB↓, 2,   NF-kB↑, 1,  

Drug Metabolism & Resistance ⓘ

ChemoSen↑, 1,   eff↓, 1,   eff↑, 1,   RadioS↑, 1,   selectivity↑, 1,  

Clinical Biomarkers ⓘ

EGFR↓, 1,  

Functional Outcomes ⓘ

chemoPv↑, 1,  
Total Targets: 53

Pathway results for Effect on Normal Cells:


Mitochondria & Bioenergetics ⓘ

UCP1↓, 1,  

Core Metabolism/Glycolysis ⓘ

AMPK↑, 1,   GlucoseCon↑, 1,   Glycolysis↑, 1,  

Cell Death ⓘ

Apoptosis↓, 1,  

Functional Outcomes ⓘ

toxicity↓, 2,  
Total Targets: 6

Scientific Paper Hit Count for: AMPK, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase
4 Betulinic acid
1 Chemotherapy
Query results interpretion may depend on "conditions" listed in the research papers.
Such Conditions may include : 
  -low or high Dose
  -format for product, such as nano of lipid formations
  -different cell line effects
  -synergies with other products 
  -if effect was for normal or cancerous cells

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