RETRACTED ARTICLE: Simvastatin and Atorvastatin inhibit DNA replication licensing factor MCM7 and effectively suppress RB-deficient tumors growth
Open accessAbstract
Loss or dysfunction of tumor suppressor retinoblastoma (RB) is a common feature in various tumors, and contributes to cancer cell stemness and drug resistance to cancer therapy. However, the strategy to suppress or eliminate Rb-deficient tumor cells remains unclear. In the present study, we accidentally found that reduction of DNA replication licensing factor MCM7 induced more apoptosis in RB-deficient tumor cells than in control tumor cells. Moreover, after a drug screening and further studies, we demonstrated that statin drug Simvastatin and Atorvastatin were able to inhibit MCM7 and RB expressions. Further study showed that Simvastatin and Atorvastatin induced more chromosome breaks and gaps of Rb-deficient tumor cells than control tumor cells. In vivo results showed that Simvastatin and Atorvastatin significantly suppressed Rb-deficient tumor growth than control in xenograft mouse models. The present work demonstrates that ‘old’ lipid-lowering drugs statins are novel weapons against RB-deficient tumors due to their effects on suppressing MCM7 protein levels.
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Simvastatin and atorvastatin downregulate MCM7 and RB expression.
“certain statins, notably simvastatin and atorvastatin, have been shown to downregulate MCM7 and RB expression.”
From Drug repurposing for cancer therapy (2024) · cites this paper as [134]
Statins are linked to increased chromosomal abnormalities in RB-deficient tumor cells, suggesting potential application for treating RB-deficient tumors.
“These statins have been linked to an increase in chromosomal abnormalities in RB-deficient tumor cells, hinting at their potential application for the treatment of RB-deficient tumors.134”
From Drug repurposing for cancer therapy (2024) · cites this paper as [134]
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- Authors
- Li, J., Liu, J., Liang, Z., He, F., Yang, L., Li, P., Jiang, Y., Wang, B., Zhou, C., Wang, Y., Ren, Y., Yang, J., Zhang, J., Luo, Z., Vaziri, C., & Liu, P.
- Affiliations
- First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (US)
- Boston University (US)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Liu, Peijun
- ORCID
- Venue
- Cell Death & Disease
- Published
- 2017-03-16
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e2673-e2673
- ISSN
- 2041-4889 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5386551
- OpenAlex
- W2597322588
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 1.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Status
- Retracted
- Update notices
- retraction (2025-11-27)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cell Death and Disease (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81071876, 81272342, NCET-10)
- Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-10)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer-related Molecular Pathways
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
- Keywords
- simvastatin, atorvastatin, statins, MCM7, retinoblastoma protein, DNA replication licensing, apoptosis, chromosome breakage, tumor growth inhibition, lipid-lowering drugs, cancer therapy
- MeSH terms
- Atorvastatin, Animals, Cell Line, DNA Replication, Humans, Retinoblastoma, Retinoblastoma Protein, Cell Cycle Proteins, Simvastatin, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation, Mice, Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 7
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