Gossypol has anti-cancer effects by dual-targeting MDM2 and VEGF in human breast cancer

Background Mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are important molecules involved in tumor progression. We researched potential inhibitors that simultaneously target MDM2 and VEGF. In our recent study involving the performance of high-throughput screening with a fluorescence polarization assay, gossypol was identified as one of the top hits that inhibit protein-RNA binding activity. Because MDM2 is an RNA-binding protein and its targets include VEGF mRNA, we investigated whether gossypol has an inhibitory effect on MDM2-VEGF.