Mechanism of emodin enhancing chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells

Abstract

Objective To investigate whether emodin enhances chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells and the mechanism. Methods Normal human skin fibroblasts and pancreatic BXPC-3 cells were divided into control group, cisplatin (5 mg/L) treatment group, gemcitabine (0.5 μmol/L) treatment group, emodin (50 μmol/L)+ cisplatin (5 mg/L) co-treatment group and emodin (50 μmol/L) + gemcitabine (0.5 μmol/L) co-treatmentgroup. The cell viability was detected by MTT assay, the cell apoptosis rate by flow cytometry, the expression of the multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 ( MRP1 ), MRP2, breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) mRNA in different cell lines was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.All data were analyzed using the t test. Results The cell viability and apoptosis rate of pancreatic BXPC-3 cells after treatment were 62.44% ± 3.42% and 27. 10% ± 4.24% in the cisplatin treatment group, and they were 30.53% ±0.05% and 66.33% ±9.37% in the emodin + cisplatin co-treatment group. There were significant differences in cell viability and apoptosis rate between the two groups (t = 13.20, 5. 35, P 0.05 ). Expression of MRP1 mRNA was detected in pancreatic BXPC-3 cells, whereas the expression of MRP2,BCRP and P-gp mRNA was undetectable. The expression of MRP1 mRNA in pancreatic BXPC-3 cells was significantly down-regulated in the cisplatin treatment group, and cisplatin + emodin co-treatment had an additive effect on down-regulating the expression of MRP1 mRNA. Conclusion Emodin may enhance chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to cisplatin by down-regulating the expression of MRP1 mRNA. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms; Emodin; Multidrug resistance; Chemotherapy; BXPC-3 cells