Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common aggressive brain tumor and is associated with an extremely poor prognosis, as the current standard of care treatments have limited efficacy. Natural compounds have attracted increasing attention as potential anticancer drugs. Alantolactone (ATL) is a natural small molecule inhibitor, that has antitumor properties. In the present study, U87MG and U251 cells were treated ATL and changes in actin/G‑actin/F‑actin/cofilin pathway were detected in whole cells, in the cytoplasm and mitochondria by western blot analysis. Immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation analysis identified changes in the expression levels of target proteins and interactions, respectively. A LIMK enzyme inhibitor was also applied to assess the effects of ATL on the migration and invasion of GBM cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect the levels of apoptosis of GBM cells. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‑2/MMP‑9, caspase‑3/caspase‑9/poly(ADP‑ribose) polymerase (PARP)/cytochrome , were determined by western blot analysis to assess the effects of targeting LIMK. The findings were verified by characterizing changes in the expression of cofilin/LIMK in xenograft tumors in immunodeficient mice. It was found that ATL activated cofilin through the targeted inhibition of LIMK enzyme activity and it thus upregulated the ratio of G/F actin, and inhibited GBM cell migration and invasion. Conversely, the activation of cofilin and G‑actin could be co‑transferred to the mitochondria to initiate the mitochondrial‑cytochrome  pathway to induce apoptosis. On the whole, the findings of the present study further illustrate the molecular mechanisms through which ATL inhibits the metastatic phenotype of GBM cells and induces apoptosis. Given previous findings, it can be deduced that ATL can function through multiple pathways and has multiple targets in GBM models, highlighting its potential for use in clinical applications.

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