AdipoRon, Adiponectin Receptor Agonist, Exhibits Antiproliferative and Apoptotic Effects in HT29 and HCT116 Colon Cancer Cells
1 Arwa Fairaq1, Ashraf N. Abdalla 2,3, AlAnood S Algarni 2, Mohamed E Elzubier 4, Riyad Almaimani 4, Amin A Hafiz 5, Halah A. Hafiz 5 and Yosra Alhindi 6*
2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
3 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medicinal and Aromatic plants research institute, National center for research, Khartoum 2404, Sudan
4 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia
5 Department of Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia
6* Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
* Correspondence: Yosra Alhindi [email protected]
Abstract:
AdipoRon is the first synthetic analog of endogenous adiponectin, which is an adipose tissue derived hormone. As it is characterized with pharmacological properties like adiponectin through binding and activating AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 receptors this makes it a target for therapeutic treatments for a multitude of disorders. In this study AdipoRon effect on HT29 and HCT116 colon cancer cells were investigated. Cytotoxic activity of AdipoRon was observed, with a significant inhibition rate in HT29 and HCT116 cells. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in the number of HCT116 colonies by clonogenicity test. In addition, cell migration assay showed significant decrease in cell migration especially after 24 hours after treatment and more with 24 μM concentration of Adiporon. Immunofluorescence staining showed an increase of apoptotic caspase 3 and decrease of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 in HCT11 in cells incubated with AdipoRon (6 μM) for 24 hours. Western blotting demonstrated a decrease in cell number with AdipoRon treatment, cyclin D1 was also suppressed. In addition, treatment with AdipoRon increases the phosphorylation of P27 as well as p AKT. In conclusion, our findings provide initial evidence of AdipoRon as an anticancer activity towards colon cancer cells; therefore, encouraging and designing future studies to further understand this pattern is essential.
Keywords: AdipoRon, cytotoxicity, apoptotic, colon cancer cells, antiproliferative
Received: 20 Feb. 2026, Accepted: 18 Mar. 2026, Published: 22 Mar. 2026
Citation: Fairaq, A., Abdalla, A.N., Algarni, A.S., Elzubier, M.E., Almaimani, R., Hafiz, A.A., Hafiz, A.H., Alhindi, Y. AdipoRon, Adiponectin Receptor Agonist, Exhibits Antiproliferative and Apoptotic Effects in HT29 and HCT116 Colon Cancer Cells.STJ,2026, 2, 1-12
https://doi.org/10.70957/uqu.edu.sa/s.toxicology.s/stj.2025.2.1
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