Effect of triptolide combined with gemcitabine on proliferation and apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effect of triptolide combined with gemcitabine on proliferation and apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells ,and to analyze the relevant mechanisms .Methods After treated with TPL ,GEM or TPL combined with GEM in vitro , PANC-1 cells proliferation was accessed by MTT assay and the interaction between the two drugs was calculated .Apoptotic mor-phological changes and apoptosis rate of the cells were investigated by Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry ,respectively .The expression of signal transduction and transcription factor 3(STAT3) ,cysteine aspartate specific proteases-3(caspase-3) protein were detected by Western blot analysis .Results TPL ,GEM or TPL combined with GEM could significantly inhibit the prolifera-tion of PANC-1 cells ,and the combination of the two drugs had a synergistic effect .The cells of the TPL group ,GEM group ,as well as the combined group showed typical apoptotic morphological changes .Compared with the TPL group and GEM group ,the number of apoptotic cells of the combined group increased significantly .Compared with the control group ,the cells apoptosis rate of the TPL group ,GEM group and combined group was significantly increased (P< 0 .05) ,and the apoptosis rate of the the combined group was significantly higher than that of the monotherapy group(P<0 .05) .TPL combined with GEM synergistically inhibited p-STAT3 protein expression and activated caspase-3 protein expression .Conclusion TPL combined with GEM can synergistically in-hibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells ,its mechanism is related to the inhibition of STAT 3 sig-naling pathway ,promotion the expression of caspase-3 protein .