Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Affiliated Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Southwest Medical University, 646000, PR China.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Affiliated Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Southwest Medical University, 646000, PR China.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2018 Jun;102:681-688. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.03.111. Epub 2018 Apr 5.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a type of head and neck cancers with poor prognosis. Despite that platinum-based chemotherapy concurrent with radiotherapy have made great achievements for the treatment of NPC, the therapeutic reaction and toxicity varies dramatically among individuals. Apigenin (API), a naturally occurring plant flavone, is considered to have anti-cancer effect. Cetuximab (CET), a well known epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, is widely used in various cancers, especially head and neck cancers. The aim of our study was to measure the combination of API and CET for the treatment of NPC in vitro and in vivo. Results demonstrated that combining API and CET could better suppress the viability of the human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines (HONE1 and CNE2) and inhibit the growth of NPC than API or CET used alone. Besides, the combination of API with CET produced greater pro-apoptosis effect. Moreover, the increased G2/M phase arrest caused by CET could be remarkably enhanced by adding API in HONE1 and CNE2 cells. Although, both API and CET could decrease the expressions of p-EGFR, p-Akt, p-STAT3 and Cyclin D1. Combining them produced greater inhibition effect. These results suggested that the combination of API and CET may be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of NPC.
鼻咽癌（NPC）是一种预后不良的头颈部癌症。尽管基于铂的化疗联合放疗在 NPC 的治疗中取得了巨大成就，但个体之间的治疗反应和毒性差异很大。芹菜素（API）是一种天然存在的植物类黄酮，被认为具有抗癌作用。西妥昔单抗（CET）是一种著名的表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）抑制剂，广泛用于各种癌症，尤其是头颈部癌症。我们的研究旨在测量 API 和 CET 联合治疗 NPC 的体外和体内效果。结果表明，与 API 或 CET 单独使用相比，API 和 CET 联合使用可以更好地抑制人鼻咽癌细胞系（HONE1 和 CNE2）的活力并抑制 NPC 的生长。此外，API 与 CET 的联合使用产生了更大的促凋亡作用。此外，CET 引起的 G2/M 期阻滞增加可以通过在 HONE1 和 CNE2 细胞中添加 API 得到显著增强。尽管 API 和 CET 都可以降低 p-EGFR、p-Akt、p-STAT3 和 Cyclin D1 的表达，但联合使用会产生更大的抑制作用。这些结果表明，API 和 CET 的联合治疗可能是治疗 NPC 的一种有前途的治疗方法。
