Baicalin induces human mucoepidermoid carcinoma Mc3 cells apoptosis in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common malignant tumor in salivary glands and high-grade MEC in particular demonstrates little response to chemotherapy which has been used largely for palliative treatment of metastatic disease. Baicalin, one of the main active compounds of Scutellaria baicalensis, possesses anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor properties. In the present study, we investigated the growth inhibiting and apoptosis-inducing effects of baicalin on a highly metastatic human mucoepidermoid carcinoma cell line Mc3 for the first time. Baicalin exerted dose- and time-dependent antiproliferative potential against Mc3 cells as assessed by MTT assay. Baicalin treatment of Mc3 cells resulted in an accumulation of cells at the G₀/G₁ and G₂/M phase with a concomitant decrease in cells processing to S phase as assessed by flow cytometry. Furthermore, baicalin induced apoptosis of Mc3 cells as determined by annexin V binding and PI dual staining, DNA fragmentation, nuclear condensation and in vivo tumor inhabitation. Rhodamine 123 assay indicated that baicalin caused cytotoxicity and induced apoptosis through decreasing the mitochondrial membrane potential in Mc3 cells. Our results suggest that baicalin seems to be very attractive as a new anticancer drug and a potential chemotherapeutic agent against human high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma.

Cytotoxicity of dietary flavonoids on different human cancer types

“…[7273] Cells from a variety of human malignancies have a decreased ability to undergo apoptosis in response to some physiological stimuli. Induction of apoptosis in malignant cells may therefore represent a promising approach to both chemoprevention and chemotherapy, and searching for agents that can specifically trigger apoptosis in tumor cells has become an attractive strategy in anticancer drug discovery.…”

Inhibitory Effect of Baicalin on Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Rats through the Nuclear Factor–κB Pathway

“…It is considered to be one of the effective and safe drugs widely used in Asia for the treatment of a variety of diseases, such as brain diseases, hepatic disorders, inflammatory diseases, and so on. Furthermore, it has been reported that baicalin has multiple biologic functions, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiapoptotic, and immune regulation properties (Xu et al, 2011;Yin et al, 2011;Hou et al, 2012). There is increasing evidence to support the notion that this compound may have potential roles in anti-inflammation and immune regulation (Liu et al, 2008).…”

Comparative analysis of bioactive phytochemicals from Scutellaria baicalensis, Scutellaria lateriflora, Scutellaria racemosa, Scutellaria tomentosa and Scutellaria wrightii by LC-DAD-MS

“…These metabolites were chosen for their demonstrated bioactivity in diverse cellular processes like apoptosis and angiogenesis. For example, acteoside has been shown to inhibit human promyelocytic HL-60 leukemia cell proliferation via inducing cell cycle arrest at G 0 /G 1 phase and differentiation into monocyte (Lee et al 2007), oroxylin A has been shown to induce apoptosis in cancer cells via p53 and therefore is a potential candidate for cancer therapy (Mu et al 2009), and baicalin has been shown to induce apoptosis in human mucoepidermoid carcinoma Mc3 cells in vitro and in vivo (Xu et al 2010). Chrysin has been shown to suppress IL-6-induced angiogenesis via down-regulation of JAK/STAT3 and VEGF in vitro and in vivo (Lin et al 2010), and wogonoside can inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo via toll-like receptor 4 signal transduction (Chen et al 2009).…”