Open AccessEnhancement of Radiation Effects by Ursolic Acid in BGC-823 Human Adenocarcinoma Gastric Cancer Cell Line
Author(s) -
Yang Yang,
Man Jiang,
Jing Hu,
Xin Lv,
Lan Yu,
Xiaoping Qian,
Baorui Liu
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0133169
Subject(s) - cytotoxicity , radiosensitivity , ursolic acid , clonogenic assay , apoptosis , cancer , cancer research , chemistry , reactive oxygen species , radiation therapy , pharmacology , cell culture , adenocarcinoma , cancer cell , in vitro , medicine , biology , biochemistry , chromatography , genetics
Recent research has suggested that certain plant-derived polyphenols, i.e., ursolic acid (UA), which are reported to have antitumor activities, might be used to sensitize tumor cells to radiation therapy by inhibiting pathways leading to radiation therapy resistance. This experiment was designed to investigate the effects and possible mechanism of radiosensitization by UA in BGC-823 cell line from human adenocarcinoma gastric cancer in vitro . UA caused cytotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner, and we used a sub-cytotoxicity concentration of UA to test radioenhancement efficacy with UA in gastric cancer. Radiosensitivity was determined by clonogenic survival assay. Surviving fraction of the combined group with irradiation and sub-cytotoxicity UA significantly decreased compared with the irradiation group. The improved radiosensitization efficacy was associated with enhanced G2/M arrest, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), down-regulated Ki-67 level and improved apoptosis. In conclusion, as UA demonstrated potent antiproliferation effect and synergistic effect, it could be used as a potential drug sensitizer for the application of radiotherapy.