Cucurbitacin B as a Chinese Medicine Monomer Inhibits Cell Proliferation, Invasion, and Migration in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant epithelial tumor in southern China. Cucurbitacin B (CuB) is a tetracyclic triterpene compound isolated from Cucurbitaceae plants which has anti-inflammation and antitumor properties and low toxic side effects. In this study, we use a series of wet experiments and network pharmacology analyses to explore the effects of CuB on cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of highly metastatic 5-8F NPC cells. The findings suggest that CuB inhibits NPC cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner and that cancer migration and invasion abilities decrease significantly after CuB treatments. Mechanistically, CuB could increase the proportion of cells in the G2/M phase and reduce it in the G0/G1 phase, leading to apoptosis. The network pharmacological analyses and wet experiments uncovered that the MAPK pathway is a central target by pathway enrichment analysis, affecting the fate of cancer cells and influencing proliferation and apoptosis. Taken together, our study reveals that CuB could effectively inhibit 5-8F NPC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion via cell cycle blockage and cell apoptosis. Collectively, we have shown that CuB is a promising anti-NPC candidate compound for future preclinical study.