Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Peiminine regulates the biological characteristics of colorectal cancer cells via P13K/Akt/mTOR and oxidative stress pathways

GuiLin Jin¹, Zhen Luo², Mingke Fen¹, Lijun Xu³

¹Department of Experimental Specimen Center, University of Tibetan Medicine, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, China; ²Department of Tibetan Medicine, University of Tibetan Medicine, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, China; ³Department of Institute, University of Tibetan Medicine, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

For correspondence:- Lijun Xu Email: jinguilin9999@163.com

Accepted: 3 May 2022 Published: 31 May 2022

Citation: Jin G, Luo Z, Fen M, Xu L. Peiminine regulates the biological characteristics of colorectal cancer cells via P13K/Akt/mTOR and oxidative stress pathways. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(5):921-925 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i5.2

© 2022 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 investigate the influence of peiminine on biological characteristics of colorectal cancer cells, and the underlying mechanism.

Methods: Two groups of cultured human colorectal cancer HCT-116 cells were used: peiminine and control groups. Peiminine group cells were exposed to the drug at a final concentration of 100 μmol/L. The effect of peiminine on cell proliferation was determined with CCK-8 method, while its effect on apoptosis was determined with flow cytometric method. Cell migration was determined with scratch test. The effect of peiminine on the expressions of proteins associated with the P13K/Akt/mTOR pathway and Wnt/β-catenin pathway in HCT-116 cells was determined with Western blotting assay.

Results: Cell proliferation was markedly reduced in the peiminine group, relative to control (p < 0.05). There was higher percentage cell apoptosis in peiminine-treated cells than in control. Moreover, cell migration potential was significantly lower in the peiminine-treated cells. There were significantly down-regulated levels of p-P13K, p-Akt and p-mTOR expressions in peiminine group, relative to the corresponding control expressions (p < 0.05). However, there were significantly higher relative expression of Wnt in peiminine group than in control cells, but β-catenin level was reduced, relative to the corresponding control level (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: These data indicate that peiminine suppresses the proliferative, apoptotic and migratory potential of colorectal carcinoma HCT-116 cells via regulation of P13K/Akt/mTOR and oxidative stress pathways.

Keywords: Peiminine, Colorectal cancer, Cell proliferation, Apoptosis, Migration