Open AccessGinsenoside Rg3 enhances radiosensitization of hypoxic oesophageal cancer cell lines through vascular endothelial growth factor and hypoxia inducible factor 1α
Author(s) -
Xiaolin Ge,
Fuxi Zhen,
Baixia Yang,
Xi Yang,
Jing Cai,
Chi Zhang,
Sheng Zhang,
Yukun Cao,
Jianxin Ma,
Hongyan Cheng,
Xinchen Sun
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of international medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1473-2300
pISSN - 0300-0605
DOI - 10.1177/0300060513505491
Subject(s) - radiosensitivity , vascular endothelial growth factor , apoptosis , medicine , hypoxia (environmental) , cell culture , flow cytometry , cell cycle , cell growth , western blot , cancer research , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , immunology , vegf receptors , chemistry , radiation therapy , cancer , biochemistry , genetics , organic chemistry , oxygen , gene
Objective To determine if the pretreatment of hypoxic human oesophageal carcinoma cell lines (EC109, TE1 and KYSE170) with ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) increases their radiosensitivity to X-rays.Methods The growth inhibitory effect of different Rg3 concentrations was measured using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Radiation sensitivity was measured using a clone formation assay and flow cytometry was used to measure the effects of Rg3 on radiation-induced apoptosis. Western blot analysis was used to measure the effects of Rg3 on the levels of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).Results Rg3 inhibited EC109, TE1 and KYSE170 cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Pretreatment with 10 µmol/ml Rg3 increased EC109, TE1 and KYSE170 radiosensitivity. Rg3 plus radiation significantly increased the apoptosis rate compared with radiation alone. Rg3 also decreased VEGF and HIF-1α protein levels in EC109 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The combination of Rg3 and radiation increased the fragmentation of double-stranded DNA.Conclusion Rg3 enhanced the radiosensitivity of human oesophageal carcinoma cell lines cultured under hypoxic conditions possibly by downregulating VEGF and HIF-1α protein levels.