Latrunculin A (LAT-A) is a marine toxin that binds ATP-actin (Kd = 0.1 µM), G-actin (Kd = 0.19 µM), ADP-Pi-actin (Kd = 0.4 µM) and ADP-actin (Kd = 4.7 µM) monomers in cells. By binding and sequestering actin monomers and preventing F-actin filament formation, LAT-A inhibits actin polymerization without significant direct effects on microtubules or other cytoskeletal components.
Latrunculin A can be used to transiently disrupt the actin cytoskeleton to investigate actin-dependent cellular functions including motility, shape maintenance, intracellular trafficking, and mechanotransduction. Latrunculin A displays anti-invasive activity against human prostate cancer cells and suppresses hypoxia-induced HIF-1 activation in breast tumour cells in vitro. Latrunculin A is also a potent inhibitor of phagocytosis by macrophages.
In vivo, it has been used in various model organisms to study cytoskeletal dynamics affecting processes such as cancer cell migration and morphogenesis. LAT-A has strong antitumor effect in mice models infected with adenocarcinoma or carcinoma.
