Piperlongumine induces apoptosis and G₂/M phase arrest in human osteosarcoma cells by regulating ROS/PI3K/Akt pathway

Previous research has reported that piperlongumine exerts antitumor properties on several types of tumor cells. However, its effect on osteosarcoma cells remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the antitumor effects of piperlongumine on osteosarcoma cells (MG63 and U2OS cells) in vitro and determined the underlying mechanism. Cell viability was measured using MTT assay. Cell apoptosis was assessed via AO/EB staining and flow cytometry apoptosis as well as western blot analysis. Cell cycle distribution was detected by flow cytometric cell cycle and western blot analysis. In our research, we found that piperlongumine induced apoptosis and G₂/M phase arrest of MG63 cells. Western blot analysis not only confirmed the above results, but also demonstrated that piperlongumine induced apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells by activating Caspase-9-dependent apoptotic pathway. Furthermore, we also found that piperlongumine significantly induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of osteosarcoma cells by regulating ROS/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. In summary, our findings suggested that piperlongumine inhibited osteosarcoma progression by promoting apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells. In addition, the underlying mechanism demonstrated that piperlongumine produced potent antitumor properties in osteosarcoma cells by regulating ROS/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.