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Ginsenoside Rg3 enhances radiosensitization of hypoxic oesophageal cancer cell lines through vascular endothelial
Xiaolin Ge1, Fuxi Zhen2, Baixia Yang3
1Department of Radiotherapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Objective:
To determine if the pretreatment of hypoxic human oesophageal carcinoma cell lines (EC109, TE1 and KYSE170) with ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) increases their radiosensitivity to X-rays.
Methods:
The growth inhibitory effect of different Rg3 concentrations was measured using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Radiation sensitivity was measured using a clone formation assay and flow cytometry was used to measure the effects of Rg3 on radiation-induced apoptosis. Western blot analysis was used to measure the effects of Rg3 on the levels of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Results:
Rg3 inhibited EC109, TE1 and KYSE170 cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Pretreatment with 10 µmol/ml Rg3 increased EC109, TE1 and KYSE170 radiosensitivity. Rg3 plus radiation significantly increased the apoptosis rate compared with radiation alone. Rg3 also decreased VEGF and HIF-1α protein levels in EC109 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The combination of Rg3 and radiation increased the fragmentation of double-stranded DNA.
Conclusion:
Rg3 enhanced the radiosensitivity of human oesophageal carcinoma cell lines cultured under hypoxic conditions possibly by downregulating VEGF and HIF-1α protein levels.
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