Volume 38, Issue 11 pp. 2679-2690
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Apatinib induces zebrafish hepatotoxicity by inhibiting Wnt signaling and accumulation of oxidative stress

Ling Huang

Ling Huang

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Zhipeng Wang

Zhipeng Wang

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Jieping Liu

Jieping Liu

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Mengqi Wan

Mengqi Wan

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Jiejun Liu

Jiejun Liu

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Fasheng Liu

Fasheng Liu

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Xiaofei Tu

Xiaofei Tu

Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China

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Juhua Xiao

Juhua Xiao

Department of Ultrasound, Jiangxi Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Nanchang, China

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Xinjun Liao

Xinjun Liao

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Huiqiang Lu

Huiqiang Lu

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

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Shouhua Zhang

Corresponding Author

Shouhua Zhang

Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China

Correspondence

Zigang Cao, School of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an 343009, China.

Email: [email protected]

Shouhua Zhang, Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China.

Email: [email protected]

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Zigang Cao

Corresponding Author

Zigang Cao

Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Zebrafish Modeling and Drug Screening for Human Diseases, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Organs, College of Life Sciences, Clinical Research Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jinggangshan University, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, China

Correspondence

Zigang Cao, School of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an 343009, China.

Email: [email protected]

Shouhua Zhang, Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Children's Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 08 August 2023

Ling Huang and Zhipeng Wang should be considered joint first author.

Abstract

Apatinib, a small-molecule VEGFR2-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has shown potent anticancer activity in various clinical cancer treatments, but also different adverse reactions. Therefore, it is necessary to study its potential toxicity and working mechanism. We used zebrafish to investigate the effects of apatinib on the development of embryos. Zebrafish exposed to 2.5, 5, and 10 μM apatinib showed adverse effects such as decreased liver area, pericardial oedema, slow yolk absorption, bladder atrophy, and body length shortening. At the same time, it leads to abnormal liver tissue structure, liver function and related gene expression. Furthermore, after exposure to apatinib, oxidative stress levels were significantly elevated but liver developmental toxicity was effectively ameliorated with oxidative stress inhibitor treatment. Apatinib induces down-regulation of key target genes of Wnt signaling pathway in zebrafish, and it is found that Wnt activator can significantly rescue liver developmental defects. These results suggest that apatinib may induce zebrafish hepatotoxicity by inhibiting the Wnt signaling pathway and up-regulating oxidative stress, helping to strengthen our understanding of rational clinical application of apatinib.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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