Echinacoside inhibits the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of ovarian cancer cells through PI3K/AKT pathway.

Abstract

Echinacoside is a group of natural compounds extracted from medicinal plants Cistanche and Echinacea, which has neuroprotective, antiaging, immunomodulatory and anticancer effects, but its specific role and mechanism in tumor remains partially unclear. To our knowledge, it was the first time to reported the effect of Echinacoside in ovarian cancer. Colony formation, TUNEL staining, Transwell and tube formation assays were conducted to analyze the proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and tube formation abilities of serous ovarian carcinoma cells (SKOV3 and OVCAR-3), respectively. The expressions of apoptosis-, invasion- and PI3K/AKT pathway-related proteins were measured by western blotting. In addition, PI3K agonist (740Y-P) was used to assess the regulatory effect of Echinacoside on PI3K/AKT signaling in ovarian cancer. Finally, the anti-tumor effect of Echinacoside on SKOV3-xenografted mice was evaluated by xenograft tumor mouse model. Our results demonstrated Echinacoside concentration-dependently reduced the proliferation, migration and angiogenesis of ovarian cancer cells, whereas promoted apoptosis. Moreover, western blotting revealed that Echinacoside suppressed the growth of ovarian cancer cells by downregulating the phosphorylation levels of PI3K, AKT and mTOR, which could be partially reversed by 740Y-P. Further, in vivo results showed that Echinacoside could effectively alleviate the tumor growth of xenograft mice, accompanied by the decrease of PI3K/AKT signaling. In general, our results demonstrate that Echinacoside could reduce the ovarian cancer progression through inhibition of PI3K/AKT pathway, suggesting that Echinacoside may be a new treatment option for ovarian cancer.

• Authors: Juan Liu, Ni Tang, Ni Liu, Panpan Lei, Fang Wang
• Journal: Journal of molecular histology (J Mol Histol) Vol. 53 Issue 2 Pg. 493-502 (Apr 2022) ISSN: 1567-2387 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 35325326 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Chemical References

• Glycosides
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
• echinacoside

Topics

• Animals
• Apoptosis
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Movement
• Cell Proliferation
• Female
• Glycosides
• Humans
• Mice
• Neovascularization, Pathologic (drug therapy)
• Ovarian Neoplasms (drug therapy, pathology)
• Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases (metabolism)
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt (metabolism)