The in vivo study of dihydroartemisinin inhibits the growth of human cholangiocarcinoma

Objective To investigate the effect and the potential mechanisms of dihydroartemisinin on the treatment of human cholangiocarcinoma cell line QBC939 xenograft in nude mouse.Methods A total of 18 animal models of nude mouse xenograft by human cholangiocarcinoma cell line QBC939 were established and randomly divided into three groups:the dihydroartemisinin group (DHA),the control group (saline),and the solvent control group (vegetable oil).The weight of tumor,the tumor inhibition rate,the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α,the microvessel density (MVD) and the apoptotic index (AI) in each group were compared and analyzed.Results The volume and the weight of xenograft tumor in DHA group [(1 979.63 ± 357.29) mm3 and (1.77 ± 0.23) g] were significantly lower than those in the control group [(2 827.69 ± 549.00) mm3 and (2.50 ± 0.65) g,P ＜ 0.05].The expression of HIF-1α in the experimental group (0.228 0 ± 0.043 9)was less than that in the control group (0.336 7 ± 0.089 6,P ＜ 0.05).MVD in the experimental group (11.06 ± 1.44) was less than that in the control group (17.44 ± 2.24,P ＜ 0.05).The AI in the experimental group [(13.18 ± 2.42) ％] was significantly greater than that in the control group [(3.28 ± 1.04) ％,P ＜ 0.05].Conclusion Dihydroartemisinin has an inhibitory effect on the tumor growth of human cholangiocarcinoma in nude mice,and the mechanism may be related to the induction of the apoptosis of tumor cells,and the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. Key words: Cholangiocarcinoma;  Dihydroartemisinin ;  Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α ;  In vivo study