ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To explore the effects and mechanism of atorvastatin on the proliferation， autophagy and glucose metabolism of AGS cells in human gastric cancer. METHODS The effects of low， medium and high concentrations of atorvastatin （12.5， 25， 50 μmol/L） on the viability of AGS cells were investigated through preliminary experiments， and the concentration of action was screened. The formal experiment was divided into control group （no intervention）， atorvastatin group （25 μmol/L）， positive control group （50 mg/L 5-fluorouracil）， inhibitor group [25 μmol/L atorvastatin +10 μmol/L phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt） signaling pathway inhibitor LY294002] and activator group （25 μmol/L atorvastatin +10 μmol/L PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activator SC79）， all of which were treated for 24 h. Glucose metabolism （glucose and lactic acid contents） and cell proliferation rate were detected， as well as the expression of autophagy-associated protein light chain 3 （LC3） Ⅰ， LC3Ⅱ and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-associated proteins in cells. RESULTS Both medium and high concentrations of atorvastatin could significantly inhibit the viability of AGS cells （P＜0.05）， and 25 μmol/L atorvastatin was selected for the official experiment for follow-up experiments. Compared with the control group， the contents of glucose and lactic acid， cell proliferation rate， p-PI3K/PI3K and p-Akt/Akt ratios in the positive control group and atorvastatin group were significantly decreased （P＜ 0.05）， and the protein expression levels of LC3 Ⅰ and LC3 Ⅱ were significantly increased （P＜0.05）. Compared with the atorvastatin group， the inhibitor further promoted the changes in the above indexes （P＜0.05）， and the activator significantly reversed the changes in the above indexes （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS Atorvastatin could inhibit glucose metabolism and proliferation of AGS cells in human gastric cancer and promote autophagy. The mechanism may be related to the inhibition of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the effect of hesperidin on apoptosis of gastric cancer AGS cells and its related molecular mechanisms. Methods: MTT assay was used for the killing effect of hesperidin on human gastric cancer AGS cells; Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining and flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis induced by hesperidin on AGS cells, the level of reactive oxygen species, and the addition of NAC Post-apoptosis changes; Western blotting was used to detect the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and signaling pathway-related proteins. Results: MTT assay showed that hesperidin had a good inhibiting effect on AGS cells. After treated with hesperidin, AGS cells showed apoptosis such as nuclear condensation and cell shrinkage. Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining and flow cytometry showed that hesperidin can induce mitochondrial dependent apoptosis of AGS cells and increase the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species. After pretreatment of NAC, hesperidin induced apoptosis inhibition. The results of Western blotting showed that the expression of p-JNK, p-p38, Bad, cleaved Caspase-3, and cleaved PARP increased, and the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins p-ERK and Bcl-2 decreased, which indicated that hesperidin activated the MAPK signaling pathway and mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in AGS cells. Conclusion: Hesperidin has a good killing effect on human gastric cancer AGS cells, and induces mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in AGS cells by increasing the level of reactive oxygen species in AGS cells and regulating MAPK signaling pathway.