Abstract
Ginsenoside Rh2 is considered as a new direction for future cancer treatment because of its excellent anticancer effect. However, due to its low bioavailability, it cannot exert its significant anticancer effect when applied directly to the human body. Chitosan (CS), a nanomaterial, has been verified to be able to enhance drug efficacy via its coating for drugs. Thus, we designed this study to investigate the impact of CS-coated ginsenoside Rh2 on the metastasis and growth of colon cancer (CC). First, ginsenoside Rh2 chitosan tripolyphosphate (CS-Rh2-TPP) nanoparticles (NPs) were constructed, and MTT, transwell, scratch adhesion, and flow cytometry assays were carried out for determining the impact of CS-Rh2-TPP at various concentrations on growth, metastasis, and apoptosis of colon cancer cells (CCCs). qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of mircoRNA-491 (miR-491) in CCCs. According to TEM-based image analysis, CS-Rh2-TPP NPs were spherical or spheroidal in even distribution, with a particle size of about 220 mm and a zeta potential of −44.58 ± 2.84 mV. Additionally, CCCs presented lower miR-491 than normal colon cells, and its relative expression in CCCs showed a stronger increase after intervention of CS-Rh2-TPP than that after intervention of ginsenoside Rh2. Moreover, CS-Rh2-TPP suppressed the activity, invasion, as well as migration of CCCs and accelerated their apoptosis more significantly than ginsenoside Rh2. According to these results, CS-Rh2-TPP is able to upregulate miR-491 in CCCs, thus suppressing the metastasis and growth of CC.
Highlights
Due to changes in diet and living structure, gastroenterological diseases present a rising incidence, and colon cancer (CC) is a common one with a comparatively high global incidence [1]. e survey shows that the global incidence of CC is about 6.1% at present
Ginsenoside Rh2 suppresses angiogenesis in patients with prostate cancer through targeting CNNM1 [9] and accelerates the apoptosis of cervical cancer cells during starvation [10]
We analyzed the expression of miR491 in cancer cells (CCCs) based on the TCGA database through Starbase online and found that it was downregulated in CCCs (Figure 2(a))
Summary
Due to changes in diet and living structure, gastroenterological diseases present a rising incidence, and colon cancer (CC) is a common one with a comparatively high global incidence [1]. e survey shows that the global incidence of CC is about 6.1% at present. Most patients have already entered the middle or late stage at the time diagnosis due to their lack of medical and health knowledge, resulting in the missing of the optimal timing for surgical treatment [4]. At this time, the tumor is usually accompanied by metastasis and invasion, and the commonly used clinical treatment schemes (surgery or combined chemoradiotherapy) generally cannot achieve the best effect of tumor resection [5]. Its clinical impacts known so far include immunomodulatory activity and increasing cognitive ability [7]. As a noncoding short-chain RNA in eukaryotes with about 22 nt in length, miR can regulate many intercellular signals via regulation on target genes by binding to downstream target genes 3’ UTR, Journal of Oncology
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