Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2013 | Primary research
PI3-kinase inhibition synergistically promoted the anti-tumor effect of lupeol in hepatocellular carcinoma
Published in: Cancer Cell International | Issue 1/2013
Login to get accessAbstract
Background
Lup-20(29)-en-3H-ol (Lupeol), a dietary triterpene, has been shown to possess multiple pharmacological activities including anti-tumor effects
Methods
In the current study, we noted that low doses of lupeol (<40 μM) promoted the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells with a significant activation of the PI3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway. We further investigated the combined anti-tumor effect of lupeol and S14161, a newly identified PI3-Kinase inhibitor in vitro and in vivo
Results
The results demonstrated that lupeol and S14161 could exert a synergistic antitumor effect resulting in chemo-sensitization of HCC to low doses of lupeol. Using an in vivo HCC model, we further demonstrated that lupeol and S14161 synergistically inhibited tumor growth without any adverse effects on body weight
Conclusion
Our studies showed that the activation of PI3-kinase/Akt pathway resulted in the tumor-promoting effect with low doses of lupeol. Combining PI3-kinase inhibitor with lupeol could synergistically augment the anti-tumor effect of lupeol and might be an applicable strategy for HCC therapy.