Abstract:

Objective To investigate the effects of sanguinarine on the proliferation, apoptosis and invasion of human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 and relevant molecular mechanisms. Methods The in vitro cultured SGC-7901 cells were treated by different concentrations of sanguinarine (0, 5, 10, and 30 μmol/L) for 24, 48, 72, and 96 h. The proliferative activity of cells was detected by CCK-8. The cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and the cell invasion was analyzed by Transwell experiment. The protein expression levels of dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4), phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinases (p-ERK), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) were detected by Western blotting. Results Sanguinarine inhibited the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells. Invasion experiment showed that the number of invasive cells of the sanguinarine treatment group was significantly lower than that of control group. Results of Western blotting showed that sanguinarine down-regulated protein expressions of DUSP4, p-ERK, PCNA, MMP-2, and Bcl-2 of SGC-7901 cells. Conclusion Sanguinarine inhibited the proliferation and invasion and induced the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells by down-regulating DUSP4/ERK pathway.

Key words: sanguinarine, dual specificity phosphatase 4, gastric cancer, proliferation, invasion