Bafilomycin A1 is treated to different types of membrane ATPases with the I50 of 400 nmol/mg, 4 nmol/mg and 50 nmol/mg for the vacuolar ATPases of a fungus (N. crassa), a plant (Z. mays), and an animal (bovine abrenal medulla). The I50 values refer as μmol of Bafilomycin A1 per mg of protein giving 50% inhibition of ATPase activity.
Bafilomycin A1 ((-)-Bafilomycin A1) disrupts autophagic flux by inhibiting both V-ATPase-dependent acidification and Ca-P60A/SERCA-dependent autophagosome-lysosome fusion.
Bafilomycin A1 at a low concentration (1 nM) effectively and specifically inhibits and kills pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. It targets both early and late stages of the autophagy pathway, mitochondria and induces caspase-independent apoptosis. Bafilomycin A1 induces the binding of Beclin 1 to Bcl-2, which further inhibits autophagy and promotes apoptotic cell death.
The growth of the BEL-7402 hepatocellular carcinoma and HO-8910 ovarian cancer cell lines are retarded and the metastatic potential is inhibited by Bafilomycin A1. Transmission electron microscopy and assays of capsase-3 and -9 suggest that Bafilomycin A1 induces apoptosis.
Bafilomycin A1 inhibits the growth of a variety of cultured cells dose-dependently, including golden hamster embryo and NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, whether or not they are transformed, and PC12 and HeLa cells. The IC50 of Bafilomycin A1 for inhibition of cell growth ranges from 10 to 50 nM.