Effect of peiminine on enhancing anti-tumor activity of adriamycin on multi-drug resistance of gastric cancer xenografts in nude mice and its mechanism / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of peiminine (PMI) on reversing the multi-drug resistance (MDR) of gastric cancer cell and enhancing the antitumor activity of adriamycin (ADR) on SGC7901/VCR cell xenograft and to explore its functional mechanisms. Methods: The model of SGC7901/VCR cell line xenograft on athymic mice was established, and the mice were randomized to groups with ip injection of different drugs once every other day, for six times in all. The tumor volume and the body weight of mice were measured during the drug therapy. The mice were sacrificed after the last administration. The tumors were weighed and then the inhibitory rate was calculated. Western blotting was employed to detect the expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and Cleaved Caspase-3. Results: During the treatment, the tumor volume of mice in PMI + ADR group was decreased significantly compared with the control group (P < 0.01). At the end of the treatment the mice were sacrificed and the tumor weight was measured. The tumor weight and inhibitory rate of mice in PMI + ADR group were obviously decreased compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The expression of P-gp in tumor of mice in ADR + PMI group was decreased. On the contrary, the expression of Cleaved Caspase-3 was increased. Conclusion: The PMI is able to enhance the sensitivity of drug resistance on gastric cancer cell to adriamycin and its mechanism may be related to decreasing the expression of P-gp and increasing the expression of Cleaved Caspase-3 in tumor tissues.