Kurokawa Hiromi, Taninaka Atsushi, Shigekawa Hidemi, Matsui Hirofumi
Algae Biomass Research and Development, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan.
Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan.
J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2021 Sep;69(2):131-136. doi: 10.3164/jcbn.20-197. Epub 2021 Apr 7.
Monascus pigment is derived from red-mold rice fermented by monascus purpureus and utilized as a natural coloring agent and natural food additive in East Asia. Monascus pigment works as a radical scavenger. Some antioxidant combine cancer chemo-therapy to protect normal tissue because chemotherapy induce side effect for normal tissue. This combination therapy can attenuate the cytotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs by antioxidants effects. However, the effect of this combination therapy for cancer cells dose not investigate enough. In this study, we investigated the combination effect of anti-oxidants and anti-cancer drugs. We selected an anti-oxidant as monascus pigment and following four anti-cancer drugs: doxorubicin, tamoxifen, paclitaxicel, and cyclophosphamide. Combination treatment with monascus pigment and cyclophosphamide enhanced the cytotoxicity of cyclophosphamide. Moreover, this combination treatment accelerated apoptosis. The spot on TLC assay board of the monascus pigment and cyclophosphamide mixture is different from the spot of monascus pigment alone and cyclophosphamide alone. The interaction between monascus pigment and cyclo-phosphamide can produce some cytotoxicity compounds or accelerate intracellular cyclophosphamide accumulation. Hence, we concluded that the interaction of both cyclophosphamide and monascus pigment involved enhancement of cyclophosphamide cytotoxicity.
红曲色素源自由紫红曲霉发酵的红曲米，在东亚地区用作天然着色剂和天然食品添加剂。红曲色素具有自由基清除剂的作用。一些抗氧化剂与癌症化疗联合使用以保护正常组织，因为化疗会对正常组织产生副作用。这种联合疗法可通过抗氧化作用减轻抗癌药物的细胞毒性。然而，这种联合疗法对癌细胞的作用尚未得到充分研究。在本研究中，我们研究了抗氧化剂与抗癌药物的联合作用。我们选择红曲色素作为抗氧化剂，并选用了以下四种抗癌药物：阿霉素、他莫昔芬、紫杉醇和环磷酰胺。红曲色素与环磷酰胺联合处理增强了环磷酰胺的细胞毒性。此外，这种联合处理加速了细胞凋亡。红曲色素与环磷酰胺混合物在薄层层析板上的斑点与单独的红曲色素和单独的环磷酰胺的斑点不同。红曲色素与环磷酰胺之间的相互作用可产生一些细胞毒性化合物或加速细胞内环磷酰胺的积累。因此，我们得出结论，环磷酰胺和红曲色素的相互作用均涉及环磷酰胺细胞毒性的增强。
