The mechanism of vitamin E succinate induced apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer cells: by up-regulation of Fas expression on the surface of cancer cells

Objective To investigate the growth inhibitory effect of vitamin E succinate(VES) on human pancreatic cancer cells and its mechanism. Methods Human pancreatic cancer cells Bxpc-3 were treated with VES for 12h, 24h and 48h, respectively. The concentrations of VES used were 5mg/L, 10mg/L and 20mg/L, respectively. The growth in- hibitory effect was measured with MTT and the cell cycle and cell surface Fas expression were analyzed by flow cytometry. Western blot assay was performed to detect Fas protein expression. Results VES exercised a significant growth inhibition and apoptosis induction effect on Bxpc-3 human pancreatic cancer cells. The apoptotic rate rose from 1.3% to 10.6%, 24.2% and 68.7% after administration of VES. Both Fas protein level and cell surface Fas expression increased after being treated with VES. Conclusions VES had significant inhibitory effect on Bxpc-3 human pancreatic cancer cells. The mechanism is related to Fas up-regulation on the surface of cancer cells.