Study on the relationship between promoting apoptosis effect of artesunate and Wnt/β-catenin pathway in colon cancer cells / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To investigate the promoting apoptosis effect of artesunate( ART) on human colon cancer Lovo cells and its mechanisms. Methods MTT assay was performed to determine the anti-proliferative effect of artesunate. Flow cytometry assay and electron micros-copy( EM) were used to evaluate the apoptotic effect of artesunate. Luciferase reporter assay was introduced to measure the activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Western blot was used to detect the pathway-related protein levels of β-catenin, GSK-3β,c-Myc and apop-tosis-related protein level of casepase-3 . Results Compared with the control group, the inhibitory rate of cell proliferation at 72 h and 320 μmol·L-1 ART was (78. 99 ± 1. 95 )% ( F =898. 301, P =0. 000 ); the cell apoptotic rate at 24 h and 160 μmol · L-1 ART was(19. 00 ± 0. 05)% and morphological signs of cell apoptosis were found by EM;the transcriptional activi-ty of TCF4/LEF at 24 h and 160 μmol·L-1 ART was (0. 36 ± 0. 30)%(F =470. 954,P <0. 01); the ex-pressions of caspase-3 and GSK-3β were significantly increased, whileβ-catenin and c-Myc were significant-ly decreased when treated with different concentrations of ART for 48 h ( P <0. 01 ) . Conclusion ART may significantly inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis of Lovo cells probably by inactivating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.