Inhibitory effect of cucurbitacin E on pancreatic cancer cells growth via STAT3 signaling

• DOI: 10.1007/s00432-009-0698-x
• Publication Date: 2009-10-08T08:08:46Z
• Authors: Chunyan Sun; Meixia Zhang; Xiaolei Shan; Xueying Zhou; Jiao Yang; Yanli Wang; Jesse Li-Ling; Yihui Deng
• Keywords: Hematology

Pancreatic cancer has been a serious disease worldwide for its high mortality. Cucurbitacin E is a member of triterpenoid family isolated from plants showing antiproliferative activity on various cancer cells. In this study, we have explored whether cucurbitacin E also has an anti-tumor effect on pancreatic cancer cells.Human pancreatic cancer cells PANC-1 were used to explore the effect and possible mechanisms of cucurbitacin E on cell cycle progression, apoptosis and proliferation.Cucurbitacin E has inhibited the growth of PANC-1 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and has caused accumulation of cells at the G(2)/M phase as well as apoptosis. Western blotting also showed that cucurbitacin E treatment can inhibit STAT3 phosphorylation while upregulate p53 expression.Our results suggested that cucurbitacin E may be an effective regimen for the chemotherapy of pancreatic cancer.