Premium
Extracts of the medicinal plants Pao Pereira and Rauwolfia vomitoria inhibit ovarian cancer stem cells in vitro
Author(s) -
Chen Qi,
Dong Ruochen,
Chen Ping
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.816.2
Subject(s) - cd44 , ovarian cancer , cancer stem cell , population , stem cell , flow cytometry , wnt signaling pathway , cancer research , biology , stem cell marker , metastasis , cancer , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , signal transduction , biochemistry , genetics , environmental health
Objectives Ovarian cancer has an enrichment of stem‐like cancer cells (CSCs) which contribute to the treatment‐resistant tumor's high rate of recurrence and metastasis. Here we investigated two extracts from the medicinal plants Pao Pereira (Pao) and Rauwolfia vomitoria (Rau) each for their activities against ovarian CSCs. Methods The Pao and Rau extracts were provided by Natural Source Inc. Cell viability was detected by MTT assay. Ovarian CSC population was examined by tumorsphere formation assays. Ovarian CSC specific cell surface markers were examined by flow cytometry. Western blot and RT‐qPCR was used for protein and mRNA expression. Results Both Pao and Rau inhibited the proliferation of multiple human ovarian cancer cell lines with IC 50 values ranging from 210 to 420 μg/mL for 48 hours of treatment, and had limited cytotoxicity to normal ovarian epithelial cells. Pao and Rau had similar potency in inhibiting ovarian CSCs, with IC 50 s of ~120 μg/mL for 24 hours treatment in reducing CD44+CD117+ sub‐population, and IC 50 s of ~50 μg/mL for long‐term tumorsphere formation. Nuclear β‐catenin levels were decreased, suggesting suppression of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway. Conclusions Data here showed that Pao and Rau both inhibited ovarian cancer stem cells in preference to the bulk of tumor cells. These data provide the first evidence in the activities of Pao and Rau in inhibiting ovarian cancer stem cells. Further mechanistic studies and in vivo investigation validating these findings are a warrant, giving that inhibition of cancer stem cells holds the promise of comprehensively inhibiting cancer metastasis, drug resistance, and recurrence. Support or Funding Information The study was supported by the Beljanski Foundation. The Beljanski Foundation has no influence on the study design, performance of experiments, data collection and analysis. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .