ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of astragalus polysaccharides injection (APS) on autophagy of human nasopharyngeal cancer CNE-2 cells.Methods The inhibitory effect of APS on proliferation of CNE-2 cells was measured by CCK8 assay.Morphological changes of autophagy of APS was detected by acridine orange (AO) staining.Transmission electron microscopy was perform to observe the morphological alterations in the autophagic cells.The expression of Beclin-1 protein was detected by Western blot assay.Results APS markedly inhibited cell growth in a dose-and time-dependent manner.Increases of the number of large vacuoles and double layered membrane structure were observed by transmission electron microscopy.Results of AO staining revealed more bright red cytoplasm or nucleus in the ceradime group,which proved the existence of acidic vesicular organelles.Western blotting showed that Beclin-1 protein level was up-regulated.Conclusion APS may induce autophagy of human nasopharyngeal cancer CNE-2 cells via up-regulating the expression of apoptosis-related gene of beclin1 and inhibit the proliferation of CNE-2 cells.