VEGFR, RET, and RAF/MEK/ERK pathway take part in the inhibition of osteosarcoma MG63 cells with sorafenib treatment.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the leading primary malignant bone tumor in children and young adults. It is response for a high mortality rate. Nowadays, few researches have been performed on sorafenib against OS and no tools are available to guide the use of sorafenib in the OS treatment. In this study, we aim to investigate the effect of sorafenib on OS cell MG63 and figure the potential effective molecular pathway of its function. In the present study, we performed assays of cell proliferation, RT-PCR, and western blot to investigate the effect of sorafenib on OS MG63 cells and to elucidate the molecular actions of sorafenib against RTKs VEGFR2 and RET, as well as MEK/ERK signaling pathway. The present study confirmed that sorafenib could inhibit the proliferation of OS MG63 cells and caused a series of biomolecule effects, including the change of VEGFR2 and ERK gene expression, and the phosphorylation alteration of VEGFR2, RET, and MEK1 proteins. VEGFR2, RET, and MEK/ERK signaling pathway are involved in the pharmacological mechanism of sorafenib. They are potential candidate targets for OS treatment.