Anticancer activities of harmine by inducing a pro-death autophagy and apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells

Abstract

Harmine, a β-carboline alkaloid from Peganum harmala, has multiple anti-tumor activities, especially for its folk therapy for digestive system neoplasm. However, the underlying mechanism of harmine on gastric cancer remains unclear. To illuminate the potential anti-tumor activity and mechanism of harmine against gastric cancer cells. The anti-proliferative activity of harmine in vitro was evaluated by MTT assay. The autophagic activity induced by harmine was assessed using GFP-LC3 transfection. FITC/PI double staining was applied for the apoptosis inspection. The mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1 fluorescence probe. The potential mechanisms for proteins level in autophagy and apoptosis were analyzed by Western blot. Harmine exhibited potent effects on both autophagy and apoptosis. Treatment with harmine could enhance dots of GFP-LC3 in cells. Meanwhile, the process had connection with Beclin-1, LC3-II, and p62 by the inhibition of Akt/mTOR/p70S6K signaling. However, high concentration of harmine led to apoptosis characterized by the propidium/Annexin V-positive cell pollution, cell shrunk and the collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential. The regulation of Bcl-2, Bax and the gathering of cleaved-PARP, cleaved-caspase 3 and cleaved-caspase 9 contributed to the induction of apoptosis. In addition, 10μM LY294002 (a specific inhibitor of PI3K/Akt) combination with 40μM harmine significantly increased the cytotoxicity to the gastric cancer cells and up-regulated both the apoptosis-related protein (cleaved-PARP, cleaved-caspase-3) and autophagy-related protein (Beclin-1, LC3-II, and p62). Adding the inhibitor of autophagy, 3-MA or BafA1, increased the viability of harmine-exposured gastric cancer cells, which confirmed the role of autophagy played in the gastric cancer cell death induced by harmine. Harmine might be a potent inducer of apoptosis and autophagy, which offered evidences to therapy of harmine in gastric carcinoma in the folk medicine.