Investigation of the Impact of Foretinib, an Oral Multikinase, on AURKA and AURKB Expression in T98 Glioblastoma Cell Line

Background/Objective: Gliomas are the most common of the primary brain tumors and accounted for more than 40% of all central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Glioblastoma (GBM) remains one of the most fatal human malignancies because of its high angiogenic. Foretinib is an oral multikinase inhibitor that represented antitumor activity in clinical studies.  AURKA and AURKB genes have been shown to be overexpressed in various cancers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of foretinib on expression changes of AURKA and AURKB genes in T98 cell line. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the T98 cell line was selected as an experimental model of glioblastoma. Cell cultured were exposed to different concentrations of foretinib (5µM, 10µM, 20µM, and 0µM as control). Then, expression changes of AURKA and AURKB genes under the influence of foretinib compared to control were examined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results: The expression of AURKA and AURKB genes were found to be significantly reduced in the treated group with foretinib in comparison with control. Results demonstrated a reduction in the expression of both genes studied by increasing the concentration of foretinib. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the foretinib leads to a decrease in the mRNA levels of AURKA and AURKB. Thus, our results suggested that foretinib may be an effective drug for GBM which should be considered for future studies.