Jinfukang induced senescence of circulating tumor cells in lung cancer by p16/RB signal pathway / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the molecular mechanism of Jinfukang inducing the senescence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Methods: Human lung cancer CTCs (CTC-TJH-01 cells) were treated with different concentrations (0, 125, 250, 500 and 1 000 μg/mL) of Jinfukang. The proliferation of CTC-TJH-01 cells was detected by CCK-8 assay. The state of cellular senescence was detected by β-galactosidase staining. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein in CTC-TJH-01 cells was detected by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining. The expression levels of proliferation- and senescence-associated proteins including p16, p21, retinoblastoma protein (RB) and phospho-RB (p-RB) were detected by Western blotting. Results: Jinfukang inhibited the proliferation of CTC-TJH-01 cells (500 and 1 000 μg/mL both P < 0.05), induced the senescence of CTC-TJH-01 cells (350 and 700 μg/mL both P < 0.05), and promoted the expression of PCNA protein in CTC-TJH-01 cells (350 and 700 μg/mL both P < 0.05). The expression levels of p16 and p21 proteins were up-regulated, but the expression level of p-RB protein was down-regulated after treatment (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: Jinfukang induces the senescence of CTCs by regulating p16/RB signal pathway, which may be the mechanism of preventing the recurrence and metastasis of lung cancer.