Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

β-Elemene enhances cisplatin-induced apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells involving an endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway

Hanlin Lv, Yan Wang, Rui Yang, Zezhang Tao

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430060, China;

For correspondence:- Zezhang Tao Email: ZezhangTaocvg@163.com Tel:+862788041911

Accepted: 29 July 2019 Published: 28 August 2019

Citation: Lv H, Wang Y, Yang R, Tao Z. β-Elemene enhances cisplatin-induced apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells involving an endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(8):1691-1696 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i8.18

© 2019 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate whether β-elemene can enhance the anticancer activity of cisplatin in nasopharyngeal carcer (NPC) 5-8F cells and the possible molecular mechanism involved.

Methods: The cytotoxicity of β-elemene and its combination with cisplatin in 5-8F cells was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Cell cycle arrest was assessed by flow cytometry. Immunoblotting was performed to determine the expression levels of proteins related to the cell cycle (cyclin D1, p21, p27) and to cell apoptosis (Bax, cleaved caspase 9, Bcl-2, and cleaved caspase 3), as well as the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway associated proteins.

Results: In 5-8F cells, β-elemene (40 μg/mL) and cisplatin (10 mM) exhibited synergistic effects on cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway-related proteins were significantly upregulated after the combination treatment of β-elemene and cisplatin (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: β-Elemene enhances the antitumor activity of cisplatin in 5-8F cells via a mechanism involving the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway. Thus, β-elemene is a potential tumor-suppressive agent in the clinical management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Keywords: β-Elemene, Cisplatin, Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), Apoptosis, Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling pathway