Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Angelica sinensis polysaccharide promotes apoptosis by inhibiting JAK/STAT pathway in breast cancer cells

Zhaoyuan Fu¹, Yingdong Li¹ , Suisheng Yang², Chengxu Ma¹, Rongrong Zhao³, Huan Guo¹, Huiping Wei¹

¹Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou City 730000; ²Department of Breast Oncology, Gansu Cancer Hospital, Lanzhou City 73005; ³Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province 730000, China.

For correspondence:- Yingdong Li Email: YingdongLigtf@163.com Tel:+869318635100

Accepted: 28 October 2019 Published: 30 November 2019

Citation: Fu Z, Li Y, Yang S, Ma C, Zhao R, Guo H, et al. Angelica sinensis polysaccharide promotes apoptosis by inhibiting JAK/STAT pathway in breast cancer cells. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(11):2247-2253 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i11.3

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether Angelica polysaccharide (APS) induced apoptosis via regulation of the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) pathway in breast cancer cells.

Methods: Human MCF-7 cells were treated with APS. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, expression of apoptotic proteins, and the phosphorylation level of Janus kinase (JAK) and STAT were measured, respectively. For further analysis, MCF-7 cells were transfected with a JAK2 overexpression plasmid or treated with a classical JAK inhibitor, ruxolitinib.

Results: Treatment with APS dose-dependently reduced cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, and downregulated the levels of phosphorylated JAK and STAT in MCF-7 cells. JAK inhibitor, ruxolitinib, blocked JAK/STAT pathway and induced cell apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Besides, JAK2 overexpression reversed the effects of APS on cell viability and apoptosis.

Conclusion: The results indicate that polysaccharide isolated from Angelica sinensis promotes apoptosis by inhibiting JAK/STAT pathway in breast cancer cells. Thus, APS may be useful as a potential therapeutic agent for breast cancer.

Keywords: Angelica polysaccharide, Apoptosis, Breast cancer, JAK, STAT