Lysimachia capillipes inhibits proliferation of pancreatic cancer BxPC-3 cells in vitro

Objective To investigate the effect of lysimachia capillipes(LC) on proliferation of human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC-3 in vitro and explore the potential mechanism. Methods BxPC-3 cells were treated by LC in different concentrations of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 μg/ml for 48 and 72 hours, respectively, using untreated cells as control. The survival rate of BxPC-3 cells was measured by MTT method. The half inhibition concentration (IC50) of LC was determined by drawing growth curve. BxPC-3 cells were treated by LC in the concentration of IC50(LC group), and cell apoptosis and cell cycle were examined by using flow cytometry. The protein expression of PARP and capase-3 was detected by Western blotting. Results LC in the concentration of 8-32 μg/ml inhibited the survival rate of BxPC-3 cells in a dose-dependent manner. After exposure to 15 μg/ml LC for 48 h, the apoptosis rate of BxPC-3 cells was increased [(17.3±0.31)% vs (1.5±0.22)%], but the cell cycle was not affected. The expression of caspase-3 protein was up-regulated [(2207.2±92.0) vs 149.1±10.2] and PARP protein was down-regulated [(36.1±4.8) vs 1593.4±29.7] than control group, and the differences were statistically different (all P value <0.05). Conclusions LC can inhibit the growth of BxPC-3 cells, and the potential mechanism was associated with the induction of cell apoptosis by LC via upregulating caspase-3 protein expression and decompsing PARP protein. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms; Saponins; Lysimachia capillipes; Apoptosis