Sanguinarine sensitizes panc-1 pancreatic cancer cells to cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin and paclitaxel

Morteza Molaparast,1,* Roya sarkhosh,2 Vahid shafiei-irannejad,3

1. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Cellular and Molecular Medicine Institute, Urmia University of Medical Sciences
2. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Cellular and Molecular Medicine Institute, Urmia University of Medical Sciences
3. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Cellular and Molecular Medicine Institute, Urmia University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction

Cancer as a disease, is the leading cause of death all over the world and annually costs high costs for cancer treatment. chemotherapy is an important tool for treatment of many cancers, however, toxic adverse effects against healthy tissues is still a big obstacle against successful cancer chemotherapy. here, we investigated the combination effect of natural compound sanguinarine with doxorubicin and paclitaxel in panc-1 pancreatic cancer cells.

Methods

The cytotoxic effects of sanguinarine, doxorubicin and paclitaxel in combination with each other and each compound alone, was determined using mtt assay. furthemore, doxorubicin- and paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in combination with sanguinarine was evaluated by annexin v/fitc assay.

Results

Treatment with sanguinarine, doxorubicin and paclitaxel had an inhibitory effect on viability of panc-1 cells. exposure to sanguinarine enhanced the cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic agents in panc-1 cells which was confirmed by reduced ic50 of doxorubicin and paclitaxel. moreover, sanguinarine significantly enhanced the doxorubicin- and paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in panc-1 cells.

Conclusion

These results indicate that saguinarine has a beneficial effect in pancreatic cancer treatment by decreasing the effective concentrations of doxorubicin and paclitaxel. therefore, sanguinarine can be considered as a potent adjuvant in pancreatic cancer chemotherapy.

Keywords

Sanguinarine, doxorubicin, paclitaxel, pancreatic cancer, chemotherapy