Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride inhibits the growth of S. cerevisiae cultures with an IC50 of 30 μM and is more toxic to yeast than the less water-soluble tenovin-1. Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride rapidly increases the levels of endogenous K382-Ac p53 in MCF-7 cells.
Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride (0 to 15 μM) dose dependently increases the level of LC3-II in diverse cell types, and the increase is ATG5/7 dependent. Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride treatment also increases the number and intensity of autophagic vesicles with or without the presence of Torin 1, and prevents Torin 1-induced SQSTM1/p62 degradation. Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride affects the acidification of autolysosomes and impairs the hydrolytic activity of lysosomes but does not affect the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. That Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride inhibits autophagy does not correlate with p53 activation and SIRT1/2 inhibition by knockdown or knockout cannot mimic the effect of Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride on LC3B accumulation.
Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride (0, 1, 2.5, 5 or 10 μM) potently inhibits cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner in all OCI-Ly1, DHL-10, U2932, RIVA, HBL1 and OCI-Ly10 cell lines. Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride consistently increases LC3B-II level in DLBCL cell lines by inhibiting the classical autophagy pathway, without activating p53, and the increase is independent of SIRT1/2/3 and p53. Tenovin-6 Hydrochloride induces apoptosis through the extrinsic cell-death pathway.