Lidocaine Inhibits Ovarian Cancer Cell Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis: An In Vitro Study

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to explore the effects and related mechanism of lidocaine on human ovarian cancer cell lines. Methods: Human ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and ES-2) were treated with different concentrations of lidocaine for different time. We treated SKOV3 and ES-2 cells using lidocaine then used MTT assay and flow cytometry to detect the cell proliferation and cell apoptosis. In addition, we used western blot analysis to explore the protein expression of Bax and Bcl-2 in SKOV3 and ES-2 cells. Western blot analysis and qRT-PCR were performed for the detection of EMT markers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin). The protein expression levels of TRAF3 and p-p65 in SKOV3 and ES-2 cells were determined by Western blot analysis. Results: Compared to the control group, 0.5, 1, 5, and 10 mM of lidocaine significantly inhibited ovarian cancer cell proliferation at different time points, while 0.1 mM of lidocaine had no significant effect. 1, 5 mM of lidocaine induced the cell apoptosis, and observably reduced expression of Bcl-2 protein, but improved Bax expression markedly compared with the control group. Treatment of lidocaine increased E-cadherin expression, but decreased N-cadherin expression when compared with control group. Treatment of lidocaine increased TRAF3 protein expression, but decreased p-p65 protein expression in ES-2 and SKOV3 cells. Conclusion: We demonstrated that lidocaine inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, and inhibited EMT in ovarian cancer cells via regulating TRAF3/NF-κB pathway.