Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Cynaropicrin inhibits lung cancer proliferation by targeting EGFR/AKT signaling pathway

Wenjun Li¹ , Xuechao Xu², Yixin Wan¹, Hong Wang¹, Hongyan Tao¹, Huirong Huang¹

¹Department of Respiratory Medicine; ²Department of General Surgery, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.

For correspondence:- Wenjun Li Email: 1454224666@qq.com Tel:+869318942347

Accepted: 24 March 2021 Published: 30 April 2021

Citation: Li W, Xu X, Wan Y, Wang H, Tao H, Huang H. Cynaropicrin inhibits lung cancer proliferation by targeting EGFR/AKT signaling pathway. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(4):715-720 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i4.8

© 2021 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 the anti-proliferative effect of cynaropicrin on lung cancer cell lines, and the underlying molecular mechanism.

Methods: The effect of cynaropicrin treatment on the viabilities of H1975 and H460 cells was measured using Cell Counting Kit?8. Apoptosis was analysed by annexin-V/FITC staining, while protein expressions were assayed by western blotting.

Results: Treatment of H1975 and H460 cells with cynaropicrin at doses of 0.25 – 2.0 µM led to a marked reduction in their viability (p < 0.05). In cynaropicrin-treated H1975 and H460 cells, there was significant increase in apoptosis, when compared to control cells. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 levels were also significantly increased in H1975 and H460 cells on treatment with cynaropicrin at doses of 0.25 and 2.0 µM while treatment with cynaropicrin at doses of 0.25 - 2.0 µM significantly down-regulated the mRNA expression of CCND1 in the two cell lines (p < 0.05). Cynaropicrin markedly inhibited mRNA and protein expressions of EGFR, and also downregulated AKT in H1975 and H460 cells (p < 0.05). However, cynaropicrin significantly increased the expressions of miR?202 and miR?370.

Conclusion: Cynaropicrin exerts anti-proliferative and proapoptotic effects on H1975 and H460 lung cancer cells via deactivation of EGFR/AKT signaling pathway. Moreover, it upregulated the expressions of miR?202 and miR?370 in these cells. Thus, cynaropicrin has potentials for the treatment of lung cancer.

Keywords: Cynaropicrin, Anti-proliferation, Pro-apoptosis, Caspase-3, Artichoke