Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Bergenin suppresses the growth of colorectal cancer cells by inhibiting PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

Xucan Gao^1,2, Yazhu Wang², Jianzhuo Zhang², Lifen Lin², Qi Yao², Guoan Xiang¹

¹Department of General Surgery, The Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, The Third Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515; ²Department of Coloproctological Surgery, Shenzhen People's Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen 510000, Guangdong, China.

For correspondence:- Guoan Xiang Email: guoan_66@163.com Tel:+862089168084

Accepted: 23 September 2017 Published: 31 October 2017

Citation: Gao X, Wang Y, Zhang J, Lin L, Yao Q, Xiang G. Bergenin suppresses the growth of colorectal cancer cells by inhibiting PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(10):2307-2313 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i10.1

© 2017 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 anticancer effects of bergenin on human colorectal cancer cell lines.

Methods: Human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line HCT116 was treated with various concentrations of bergenin for 24 and 48 h. Cell viability, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and reactive oxygen species (ROS) level were analyzed by MTT, flow cytometry and fluorescent dye assays, respectively. DNA damage-associated protein expressions were analyzed by Western blotting.

Results: Bergenin significantly suppressed the viability of HCT116 cells. Moreover, bergenin induced cells to accumulate in G1 phase and resulted in DNA breaks in HCT116 cells. It also led to marked accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), a breaker of DNA strand in HCT116 cells. Interestingly, bergenin inhibited PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.

Conclusion: Bergenin effectively suppresses the growth of colorectal adenocarcinoma by inducing generation of intracellular ROS, DNA damage and consequent G1 phase arrest via inhibition of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.

Keywords: Bergenin, Colorectal cancer, DNA damage, Cell cycle arrest, PI3K/AKT/mTOR