RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To explore the reversal effect and molecular mechanism of shengqi fuzheng injection(SQFZ) on pancreatic cancer multidrug resistance(MDR) cells. METHODS: Patu8988 was exposured to fluorouracil(5-Fu) to obtain stable 5-Fu-resistant Patu8988/5-Fu cell lines. MTT assay was used to detect the inhibition of SQFZ on cell proliferation and the resistance index of Patu8988/5-Fu and reversal index of SQFZ were calculated. Flow cytometry(FCM) was employed to measure the accumulation of Rho123 in cells. The mRNA expression of MDR1, Bcl-2 and Bax and presence of Bcl-2, Bax and P-gp protein were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot methods respectively. RESULTS: SQFZ at the concentration of 5, 10, 20 μL·mL-1 obviously reversed MDR of Patu8988/5-Fu cells, with the reversal index of 1.5, 2.3 and 3.4 respectively. It increased Rho123 accumulation in a dose-dependent manner in MDR cells(r=0.979, P<0.05). The study revealed that SQFZ downregulated the expressions of MDR1 and Bcl2 gene and upregulated the expression of Bax gene. Furthermore, SQFZ decreased the expression of P-gp and Bcl-2 protein, and increased the expression of Bax protein in Patu8988/5-Fu cells. CONCLUSION: SQFZ can reverse multidrug resistance of Patu8988/FU cells, likely by modulating gene transcription and protein expression of MDRl, Bcl-2 and Bax.