Evodiamine / ROS Cancer Research Results

EVO, Evodiamine: Click to Expand ⟱
Features:
Evodiamine is a bioactive alkaloid isolated primarily from the fruit of the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Evodia rutaecarpa. Evodiamine is a natural alkaloid from Evodia rutaecarpa, a traditional Chinese medicine. It has various pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-microbial and metabolic regulation, but also shows hepatotoxicity and cardiotoxicity.

Evodiamine — a naturally occurring quinazolinocarboline indole alkaloid isolated mainly from the dried, immature fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum, historically known as Evodia rutaecarpa or Evodiae Fructus. It is classified as an experimental plant-derived small molecule and multitarget anticancer lead compound. Standard abbreviations include EVO, EVD and EDM. Evodiamine interacts with topoisomerases, microtubules, mitochondrial death pathways and several oncogenic signalling networks, but it is not an approved anticancer drug and has extremely poor oral bioavailability.

Primary mechanisms (ranked):

  1. Disruption of DNA topology through inhibition or trapping of topoisomerase I and catalytic inhibition of topoisomerase II, producing replication stress, DNA damage signalling and cell-cycle arrest.
  2. Mitotic disruption through altered tubulin polymerization and microtubule dynamics, commonly producing G2/M or mitotic arrest.
  3. Induction of mitochondrial and endoplasmic-reticulum-associated apoptosis through mitochondrial membrane depolarization, Bax/Bcl-2 modulation, cytochrome-c release and caspase activation.
  4. Suppression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR and related survival signalling, with context-dependent activation of stress MAPKs including JNK and p38.
  5. ROS elevation and oxidative stress that amplify mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage and apoptosis in susceptible cancer cells.
  6. Suppression of NF-κB and STAT3 transcriptional signalling, reducing anti-apoptotic, inflammatory, angiogenic and metastatic gene expression.
  7. Inhibition of HSP70-mediated proteostasis and survival of cancer stem-like and chemoresistant cell populations.
  8. Suppression of invasion, EMT, angiogenesis and immune-evasion signalling, including context-dependent reductions in MMP-9, VEGF, MUC1-C and PD-L1.
  9. Induction of autophagy, which may be cytotoxic or cytoprotective depending on cancer type, concentration and treatment duration.

Bioavailability / PK relevance: Native evodiamine is poorly water-soluble, has limited gastrointestinal absorption, undergoes extensive metabolism and has exceptionally low systemic oral bioavailability in animal models; an approximate oral bioavailability of 0.1% has been reported in rats. Nanoparticles, phospholipid complexes, solid dispersions, liposomes and structural analogues improve exposure experimentally, but no optimized formulation has established clinical anticancer efficacy.

In-vitro vs systemic exposure relevance: Most anticancer experiments use micromolar evodiamine concentrations maintained for hours to days. These exposures substantially exceed the plasma concentrations expected after conventional oral evodiamine because of its poor dissolution, absorption and systemic availability. Direct translation of common cell-culture concentrations to oral supplementation is therefore not pharmacokinetically supported.

Clinical evidence status: Preclinical only. Anticancer evidence consists primarily of cell-culture studies, xenografts and other animal models. No established randomized clinical trial evidence demonstrates efficacy against cancer, and evodiamine has no FDA, EMA or Health Canada approval as an anticancer therapy. Hepatotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, formulation limitations and uncertain human pharmacokinetics remain major development barriers.


Evodiamine Mechanistic Profile

Rank Pathway / Axis Cancer Cells Normal Cells TSF Primary Effect Notes / Interpretation
1 Topoisomerase I and II TOP1-DNA cleavage complexes ↑; TOP1 and TOP2 activity ↓; DNA damage ↑ DNA damage possible ↑ at sufficient exposure R–G Replication stress, DNA strand damage and growth inhibition Evodiamine has been reported as a TOP1 poison or cleavage-complex stabilizer and as a dual TOP1/TOP2 catalytic inhibitor; the precise mode is assay-dependent.
2 Tubulin and mitotic progression Tubulin polymerization altered; G2/M arrest ↑; mitotic arrest ↑ Mitotic toxicity possible ↑ in proliferating normal cells R–G Failure of mitotic progression Microtubule disruption may explain the frequent G2/M phenotype better than TOP1 inhibition alone.
3 Mitochondrial apoptosis Mitochondrial membrane potential ↓; Bax ↑; Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL ↓; cytochrome c ↑; caspase-9 and caspase-3 ↑ Mitochondrial toxicity possible ↑ (dose-dependent) R–G Intrinsic apoptotic cell death One of the most consistently reproduced downstream effects across cancer models.
4 PI3K AKT mTOR survival signalling PI3K ↓; p-AKT ↓; mTOR signalling ↓ Variable or insufficiently characterized R–G Reduced survival, proliferation and therapy resistance Observed in glioma, pancreatic, hepatic, prostate and other cancer models; not necessarily a direct molecular target.
5 Mitochondrial ROS and oxidative stress ROS ↑; oxidative damage ↑; mitochondrial dysfunction ↑ Oxidative injury possible ↑ at toxic concentrations P–R Amplification of apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest ROS dependence is model-dependent; antioxidant rescue has been reported in selected systems. This is not evidence of cancer-selective oxidative stress in humans.
6 Stress MAPK signalling JNK ↑; p38 ↑; ERK variable Variable or insufficiently characterized P–R Stress signalling, mitotic arrest and apoptosis MAPK direction varies by cell type and exposure; JNK activation is mechanistically important in several colorectal and mitochondrial-apoptosis models.
7 NF-κB inflammatory and survival signalling IKK activity ↓; IκBα degradation ↓; NF-κB activation ↓; COX-2 ↓; anti-apoptotic proteins ↓ Inflammatory signalling ↓ (context-dependent) R–G Reduced survival, inflammation, invasion and chemoresistance NF-κB suppression can sensitize experimental tumors to gemcitabine and other cytotoxic treatments.
8 SHP-1 STAT3 axis SHP-1 ↑; STAT3 Tyr705 phosphorylation ↓; cyclin D1, survivin, XIAP, VEGF and MMP-9 ↓ Insufficiently characterized R–G Reduced proliferation, angiogenesis and survival Strongly demonstrated in hepatocellular carcinoma models but may not generalize uniformly across cancers.
9 HSP70 proteostasis HSP70 function ↓; proteotoxic stress ↑; cancer stem-cell survival ↓ Potential proteostasis toxicity (dose-dependent) R–G Apoptosis of bulk, stem-like and drug-resistant cancer populations HSP70 has been proposed as a direct functional target, providing a potential mechanism against chemoresistant subpopulations.
10 Autophagy LC3-II and autophagosome formation ↑ Insufficiently characterized G Context-dependent cell death or survival adaptation Autophagy may contribute to cytotoxicity in some models but protect tumor cells in others; combination with autophagy inhibition can enhance activity experimentally.
11 EMT invasion and angiogenesis EMT ↓; MMP-2 and MMP-9 ↓; VEGF ↓; migration and invasion ↓ Endothelial angiogenic activity may ↓ G Reduced metastatic and angiogenic phenotype Primarily preclinical and often secondary to suppression of NF-κB, STAT3, AKT or β-catenin signalling.
12 MUC1-C PD-L1 immune-evasion axis MUC1-C ↓; PD-L1 ↓; CD8-positive T-cell activity ↑ in immunocompetent models Normal immune effects uncertain G Reduced immune evasion Promising but model-specific evidence; no clinical immunotherapy combination data are available.
13 Chemosensitization Resistance signalling ↓; apoptosis with gemcitabine, erlotinib or other agents ↑ Combination toxicity uncertain G Enhanced experimental treatment response Combination effects remain preclinical and cannot currently support adjunct use in patients.
14 Clinical Translation Constraint Systemic exposure after oral dosing very low Hepatic and cardiac injury possible; CYP-mediated interactions possible G Limits clinical feasibility and therapeutic index Poor solubility, approximately 0.1% rat oral bioavailability, extensive metabolism, uncertain human dosing, hepatotoxicity and cardiotoxicity prevent direct translation of micromolar in-vitro findings.

P: 0–30 min    R: 30 min–3 hr    G: >3 hr



ROS, Reactive Oxygen Species: Click to Expand ⟱
Source: HalifaxProj (inhibit)
Type:
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive molecules that contain oxygen and can lead to oxidative stress in cells. They play a dual role in cancer biology, acting as both promoters and suppressors of cancer.
ROS can cause oxidative damage to DNA, leading to mutations that may contribute to cancer initiation and progression. So normally you want to inhibit ROS to prevent cell mutations.
However excessive ROS can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells, potentially limiting tumor growth. Chemotherapy typically raises ROS.
-mitochondria is the main source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) (and the ETC is heavily related)
ROS Homeostasis in Cancer Cells and Its Potential as a Therapeutic Target

"Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are two electron reduction products of oxygen, including superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, lipid peroxides, protein peroxides and peroxides formed in nucleic acids 1. They are maintained in a dynamic balance by a series of reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions in biological systems and act as signaling molecules to drive cellular regulatory pathways."
"During different stages of cancer formation, abnormal ROS levels play paradoxical roles in cell growth and death 8. A physiological concentration of ROS that maintained in equilibrium is necessary for normal cell survival. Ectopic ROS accumulation promotes cell proliferation and consequently induces malignant transformation of normal cells by initiating pathological conversion of physiological signaling networks. Excessive ROS levels lead to cell death by damaging cellular components, including proteins, lipid bilayers, and chromosomes. Therefore, both scavenging abnormally elevated ROS to prevent early neoplasia and facilitating ROS production to specifically kill cancer cells are promising anticancer therapeutic strategies, in spite of their contradictoriness and complexity."
"ROS are the collection of derivatives of molecular oxygen that occur in biology, which can be categorized into two types, free radicals and non-radical species. The non-radical species are hydrogen peroxide (H 2O 2 ), organic hydroperoxides (ROOH), singlet molecular oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), electronically excited carbonyl, ozone (O3 ), hypochlorous acid (HOCl, and hypobromous acid HOBr). Free radical species are super-oxide anion radical (O 2•−), hydroxyl radical (•OH), peroxyl radical (ROO•) and alkoxyl radical (RO•) [130]. Any imbalance of ROS can lead to adverse effects. H2 O 2 and O 2 •− are the main redox signalling agents. The cellular concentration of H2 O 2 is about 10−8 M, which is almost a thousand times more than that of O2 •−".
"Radicals are molecules with an odd number of electrons in the outer shell [393,394]. A pair of radicals can be formed by breaking a chemical bond or electron transfer between two molecules."

Recent investigations have documented that polyphenols with good antioxidant activity may exhibit pro-oxidant activity in the presence of copper ions, which can induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines but not in normal cells. "We have shown that such cell growth inhibition by polyphenols in cancer cells is reversed by copper-specific sequestering agent neocuproine to a significant extent whereas iron and zinc chelators are relatively ineffective, thus confirming the role of endogenous copper in the cytotoxic action of polyphenols against cancer cells. Therefore, this mechanism of mobilization of endogenous copper." > Ions could be one of the important mechanisms for the cytotoxic action of plant polyphenols against cancer cells and is possibly a common mechanism for all plant polyphenols. In fact, similar results obtained with four different polyphenolic compounds in this study, namely apigenin, luteolin, EGCG, and resveratrol, strengthen this idea.
Interestingly, the normal breast epithelial MCF10A cells have earlier been shown to possess no detectable copper as opposed to breast cancer cells [24], which may explain their resistance to polyphenols apigenin- and luteolin-induced growth inhibition as observed here (Fig. 1). We have earlier proposed [25] that this preferential cytotoxicity of plant polyphenols toward cancer cells is explained by the observation made several years earlier, which showed that copper levels in cancer cells are significantly elevated in various malignancies. Thus, because of higher intracellular copper levels in cancer cells, it may be predicted that the cytotoxic concentrations of polyphenols required would be lower in these cells as compared to normal cells."

Majority of ROS are produced as a by-product of oxidative phosphorylation, high levels of ROS are detected in almost all cancers.
-It is well established that during ER stress, cytosolic calcium released from the ER is taken up by the mitochondrion to stimulate ROS overgeneration and the release of cytochrome c, both of which lead to apoptosis.

Note: Products that may raise ROS can be found using this database, by:
Filtering on the target of ROS, and selecting the Effect Direction of ↑

Targets to raise ROS (to kill cancer cells):
• NADPH oxidases (NOX): NOX enzymes are involved in the production of ROS.
    -Targeting NOX enzymes can increase ROS levels and induce cancer cell death.
    -eNOX2 inhibition leads to a high NADH/NAD⁺ ratio which can lead to increased ROS
• Mitochondrial complex I: Inhibiting can increase ROS production
• P53: Activating p53 can increase ROS levels(by inducing the expression of pro-oxidant genes)
Nrf2 inhibition: regulates the expression of antioxidant genes. Inhibiting Nrf2 can increase ROS levels
• Glutathione (GSH): an antioxidant. Depleting GSH can increase ROS levels
• Catalase: Catalase converts H2O2 into H2O+O. Inhibiting catalase can increase ROS levels
• SOD1: converts superoxide into hydrogen peroxide. Inhibiting SOD1 can increase ROS levels
• PI3K/AKT pathway: regulates cell survival and metabolism. Inhibiting can increase ROS levels
HIF-1α inhibition: regulates genes involved in metabolism and angiogenesis. Inhibiting HIF-1α can increase ROS
• Glycolysis: Inhibiting glycolysis can increase ROS levels • Fatty acid oxidation: Cancer cells often rely on fatty acid oxidation for energy production.
-Inhibiting fatty acid oxidation can increase ROS levels
• ER stress: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress can increase ROS levels
• Autophagy: process by which cells recycle damaged organelles and proteins.
-Inhibiting autophagy can increase ROS levels and induce cancer cell death.
• KEAP1/Nrf2 pathway: regulates the expression of antioxidant genes.
    -Inhibiting KEAP1 or activating Nrf2 can increase ROS levels and induce cancer cell death.
• DJ-1: regulates the expression of antioxidant genes. Inhibiting DJ-1 can increase ROS levels
• PARK2: regulates the expression of antioxidant genes. Inhibiting PARK2 can increase ROS levels
SIRT1 inhibition:regulates the expression of antioxidant genes. Inhibiting SIRT1 can increase ROS levels
AMPK activation: regulates energy metabolism and can increase ROS levels when activated.
mTOR inhibition: regulates cell growth and metabolism. Inhibiting mTOR can increase ROS levels
HSP90 inhibition: regulates protein folding and can increase ROS levels when inhibited.
• Proteasome: degrades damaged proteins. Inhibiting the proteasome can increase ROS levels
Lipid peroxidation: a process by which lipids are oxidized, leading to the production of ROS.
    -Increasing lipid peroxidation can increase ROS levels
• Ferroptosis: form of cell death that is regulated by iron and lipid peroxidation.
    -Increasing ferroptosis can increase ROS levels
• Mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP): regulates mitochondrial permeability.
    -Opening the mPTP can increase ROS levels
• BCL-2 family proteins: regulate apoptosis and can increase ROS levels when inhibited.
• Caspase-independent cell death: a form of cell death that is regulated by ROS.
    -Increasing caspase-independent cell death can increase ROS levels
• DNA damage response: regulates the repair of DNA damage. Increasing DNA damage can increase ROS
• Epigenetic regulation: process by which gene expression is regulated.
    -Increasing epigenetic regulation can increase ROS levels

-PKM2, but not PKM1, can be inhibited by direct oxidation of cysteine 358 as an adaptive response to increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS)

ProOxidant Strategy:(inhibit the Mevalonate Pathway (likely will also inhibit GPx)
-HydroxyCitrate (HCA) found as supplement online and typically used in a dose of about 1.5g/day or more
-Atorvastatin typically 40-80mg/day, -Dipyridamole typically 200mg 2x/day Combined effect research
-Lycopene typically 100mg/day range (note debatable as it mainly lowers NRF2)

Dual Role of Reactive Oxygen Species and their Application in Cancer Therapy
ROS-Inducing Interventions in Cancer — Canonical + Mechanistic Reference
-generated from AI and Cancer database
ROS rating:  +++ strong | ++ moderate | + weak | ± mixed | 0 none
NRF2:        ↓ suppressed | ↑ activated | ± mixed | 0 none
Conditions:  [D] dose  [Fe] metal  [M] metabolic  [O₂] oxygen
             [L] light [F] formulation [T] tumor-type [C] combination

Item ROS NRF2 Condition Mechanism Class Remarks
ROS">Piperlongumine +++ [D][T] ROS-dominant
ROS">Shikonin +++↓/±[D][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Vitamin K3 (menadione) +++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Copper (ionic / nano) +++[Fe][F]ROS-dominant
ROS">Sodium Selenite +++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Juglone +++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Auranofin +++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) +++0[L][O₂]ROS-dominant
ROS">Radiotherapy / Radiation +++0[O₂]ROS-dominant
ROS">Doxorubicin +++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Cisplatin ++[D][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Salinomycin ++[D][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Artemisinin / DHA ++[Fe][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Sulfasalazine ++[C][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">FMD / fasting ++[M][C][O₂]ROS-dominant
ROS">Vitamin C (pharmacologic) ++[Fe][D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Silver nanoparticles ++±[F][D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Gambogic acid ++[D][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Parthenolide ++[D][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Plumbagin ++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Allicin ++[D]ROS-dominant
ROS">Ashwagandha (Withaferin A) ++[D][T]ROS-dominant
ROS">Berberine ++[D][M]ROS-dominant
ROS">PEITC ++[D][C]ROS-dominant
ROS">Methionine restriction +[M][C][T]ROS-secondary
ROS">DCA +±[M][T]ROS-secondary
ROS">Capsaicin +±[D][T]ROS-secondary
ROS">Galloflavin +0[D]ROS-secondary
ROS">Piperine +±[D][F]ROS-secondary
ROS">Propyl gallate +[D]ROS-secondary
ROS">Scoulerine +?[D][T]ROS-secondary
ROS">Thymoquinone ±±[D][T]Dual redox
ROS">Emodin ±±[D][T]Dual redox
ROS">Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) ±[D][M]NRF2-dominant
ROS">Curcumin ±↑/↓[D][F]NRF2-dominant
ROS">EGCG ±↑/↓[D][O₂]NRF2-dominant
ROS">Quercetin ±↑/↓[D][Fe]NRF2-dominant
ROS">Resveratrol ±[D][M]NRF2-dominant
ROS">Sulforaphane ±↑↑[D]NRF2-dominant
ROS">Lycopene 0Antioxidant
ROS">Rosmarinic acid 0Antioxidant
ROS">Citrate 00Neutral


Scientific Papers found: Click to Expand⟱
6840- EVO,    Evodiamine Induces G2/M Arrest and Apoptosis via Mitochondrial and Endoplasmic Reticulum Pathways in H446 and H1688 Human Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells
- in-vitro, Lung, H446 - in-vitro, Lung, H1688
tumCV↓, TumCCA↑, Apoptosis↑, Casp12↑, Cyt‑c↑, BAX↑, Bcl-2↓, selectivity↑, ROS↑, Ca+2↑, MMP↓,
6841- EVO,    Evodiamine induces reactive oxygen species-dependent apoptosis and necroptosis in human melanoma A-375 cells
- in-vitro, Melanoma, A375
TumCP↓, TumCCA↑, Casp3↑, Casp9↑, PARP↑, MMP↓, RIP3↑, Necroptosis↑, ROS↑,
6842- EVO,    Evodiamine activates cellular apoptosis through suppressing PI3K/AKT and activating MAPK in glioma
- in-vitro, GBM, U251 - in-vitro, GBM, LN229
TumCP↓, ROS↑, MMP↓, PI3K↓, Akt↓, p‑MAPK↑, cl‑Casp3↑,
6845- EVO,    Evodiamine, a Novel NOTCH3 Methylation Stimulator, Significantly Suppresses Lung Carcinogenesis in Vitro and in Vivo
- vitro+vivo, NSCLC, A549 - in-vitro, Lung, H1299
AntiCan↑, TumVol↓, NOTCH3↓, tumCV↓, TumCCA↑, TumCMig↓, CSCs↓, TumCP↓, Apoptosis↑, TumCI↓, ROS↑, TumCG↓, selectivity↑, DNMT1↓,
6848- EVO,    Evodiamine: A Extremely Potential Drug Development Candidate of Alkaloids from Evodia rutaecarpa
- Review, Nor, NA
AntiTum↑, cardioP↑, Inflam↓, TumCP↓, TumCCA↑, Apoptosis↑, TumAuto↑, BioAv↓, toxicity↑, NF-kB↓, MAPK↓, NOD1↓, p‑Akt↓, BAX↑, cl‑Casp3↑, γH2AX↑, cl‑PARP↑, ROS↑, BBB↑, neuroP↑, BioAv↑,

Showing Research Papers: 1 to 5 of 5

* indicates research on normal cells as opposed to diseased cells
Total Research Paper Matches: 5

Pathway results for Effect on Cancer / Diseased Cells:


NA, unassigned(tgid=0)

NOD1↓, 1,  

Redox & Oxidative Stress(tgid=1)

ROS↑, 5,  

Mitochondria & Bioenergetics(tgid=3)

MMP↓, 3,  

Cell Death(tgid=5)

Akt↓, 1,   p‑Akt↓, 1,   Apoptosis↑, 3,   BAX↑, 2,   Bcl-2↓, 1,   Casp12↑, 1,   Casp3↑, 1,   cl‑Casp3↑, 2,   Casp9↑, 1,   Cyt‑c↑, 1,   MAPK↓, 1,   p‑MAPK↑, 1,   Necroptosis↑, 1,  

Transcription & Epigenetics(tgid=7)

tumCV↓, 2,  

Autophagy & Lysosomes(tgid=9)

TumAuto↑, 1,  

DNA Damage & Repair(tgid=10)

DNMT1↓, 1,   PARP↑, 1,   cl‑PARP↑, 1,   γH2AX↑, 1,  

Cell Cycle & Senescence(tgid=11)

TumCCA↑, 4,  

Proliferation, Differentiation & Cell State(tgid=12)

CSCs↓, 1,   NOTCH3↓, 1,   PI3K↓, 1,   TumCG↓, 1,  

Migration(tgid=13)

Ca+2↑, 1,   RIP3↑, 1,   TumCI↓, 1,   TumCMig↓, 1,   TumCP↓, 4,  

Barriers & Transport(tgid=15)

BBB↑, 1,  

Immune & Inflammatory Signaling(tgid=16)

Inflam↓, 1,   NF-kB↓, 1,  

Drug Metabolism & Resistance(tgid=21)

BioAv↓, 1,   BioAv↑, 1,   selectivity↑, 2,  

Functional Outcomes(tgid=23)

AntiCan↑, 1,   AntiTum↑, 1,   cardioP↑, 1,   neuroP↑, 1,   toxicity↑, 1,   TumVol↓, 1,  
Total Targets: 44

Pathway results for Effect on Normal Cells:


Total Targets: 0

Scientific Paper Hit Count for: ROS, Reactive Oxygen Species
5 Evodiamine
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
Filter Conditions: Pro/AntiFlg:%  IllCat:%  CanType:%  Cells:%  prod#:76  Target#:275  State#:%  Dir#:%
wNotes=0 sortOrder:rid,rpid

 

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