Wensley HJ, Smith WS, Holmes SE, Flavell SU, Flavell DJ (2021) The effect of small molecule pharmacological agents on the triterpenoid saponin induced endolysosomal escape of saporin and a saporin-based immunotoxin in target human lymphoma cells. Biomedicines 9(3):300. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9030300
Summary: Triterpenoid saponins augment the cytotoxicity of saporin based immunotoxins. It is postulated that this results from a saponin-mediated increase in the endolysosomal escape of the toxin to the cytosol. The authors used a number of pharmacological inhibitors of endocytic processes as probes to investigate the role played by saponin in the endolysosomal escape of fluorescently labeled saporin and a saporin based immunotoxin targeted against CD38 on human lymphoma and leukemia cell lines.