Norcantharidin inhibit cell growth and induces apoptosis in gastric cancer MGC-803 cell lines

Aim:To investigate the inhibitory effect of Norcantharidin on gastric cancer MGC-803 cell lines and the possible mechanism.Methods:MTT assay and cell colony formation inhibitory assay were used to investigate the inhibitory effect of Norcantharidin on gastric cancer against gastric cancer MGC-803 cells.Changes in cell cycle and apoptotic cell percentage were calculated by flow cytometry.The expression of apoptosis-associated proteins was analyzed by western blotting.Results:MTT method showed that Norcantharidin with different concentrations inhibited gastric cancer MGC-803 cells in a dose-de-pendent manner(P0.05).The IC_(50) for norcantharidin on gastric cancer MGC-803 cells for 48 and 72hours was 69.92 μmol/L and 31.27 μmol/L respectively.Cell colony formation inhibition assay demonstrated that cell clones were decreased with increased concentration of Norcantharidin.PI staining analysis showed that cell cycle was arrested in G2/M phase.Annexin V-FITC/PI staining analysis also showed a dose-dependent effect on apoptotic cells.Western blotting assay showed that pro-Caspase-9,proCaspase-3,Bcl-2,Bcl-xL and Mcl-1 were decreased significantly,Bax express was unchanged and the cut bands of PARP were detected.Conclusion:Norcantharidin induces cell cycle arrested and mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in gastric cancer MGC-803 cells.