Vorinostat has good therapeutic efficacy against primary
cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in the refractory stage. However, the molecular mechanism by which it inhibits solid
tumors has not been clarified. To investigate the
tumor inhibitory mechanism of
vorinostat in
cervical cancer, this study used Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometry, cell invasion and migration assays and the wound healing assay to evaluate the effects of
vorinostat on
cervical cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, migration, and invasion. Real-time quantitative PCR and immunoblotting were used to detect gene and
protein expression, respectively, of major histocompatibility class I-related chain A,
phosphoinositide 3-kinase, phosphorylated PI3K p55 (Tyr199), and p-Akt (Ser473). The
lactate dehydrogenase cytotoxicity assay was used to evaluate the ability of natural killer-92 cells to lyse
cervical cancer cells. A xenograft nude mouse model was established to analyze the anti-
tumor effect of
vorinostat in vivo. Our results showed that
vorinostat inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of
cervical cancer cells.
Vorinostat also induced apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest in the S phase, inhibited PI3K (p110α), p-PI3K p55 (Tyr199), and p-Akt (Ser473)
protein expression and upregulated
MICA expression in vitro and in vivo, and promoted NK-92 cell-mediated
cervical cancer cell lysis. The ability of
vorinostat to upregulate
MICA expression in
cervical cancer cells was related to PI3K/Akt signaling. In brief,
vorinostat upregulated
MICA through the PI3K/Akt pathway and enhanced the sensitivity of
cervical cancer cells to the NK cell-mediated cytolytic reaction. The results of this study demonstrate that
vorinostat has anti-solid
tumor effects on
cervical cancer.