The effect of vitamin E succinate on doxorubicin induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells and its mechanism

Objective To study the effect of vitamin E succinate(VES) on doxorubicin(DOXO) induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells and its mechanism.Methods SGC-7901 human gastric cancer cells were treated with either VES at 10 μmol/L and DOXO at 1.5 μmol/L alone or in combination for 24 h.MTT assay was used to evaluate the growth inhibition.Apoptosis was detected by inverted microscope and flow cytometry.Western blot analyses was used to detect the expression of Fas、Bid、Bax、caspase-8、caspase-9 and PAPR.Results Data show that DOXO+VES cooperatively acted to inhibit cell growth and to induce apoptosis in SGC-7901 cells.Combination of DOXO+VES induced increased levels of Fas and Bax protein expression and cleavage of Bid、caspase-8 and caspase-9.Conclusion Combination treatment of DOXO and VES exhibits better antitumor efficiency than single treatments.