Anticancer activities of alkaloids extracted from the Ba lotus seed in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE‑1 cells

Abstract

To investigate the anticancer activities of alkaloids from the Ba lotus seed (BLSA) in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) CNE‑1 cells, an MTT assay, flow cytometry, reverse transcription‑polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were performed. BLSA was found to significantly reduce CNE‑1 cell proliferation in a dose‑dependent manner at all concentrations compared with the control (P<0.05). In addition, flow cytometry analysis identified that BLSA treatment significantly increased the sub‑G1 content in CNE‑1 cells (P<0.05). Following BLSA treatment, the mRNA and protein levels of a number of apoptosis‑related factors, such as caspase family members (caspase‑3, ‑8 and ‑9), B‑cell lymphoma (Bcl)‑2‑associated X protein, Fas and Fas ligand were significantly increased compared with the control (P<0.05). This was accompanied by a significant decrease in anti‑apoptotic Bcl‑2 and Bcl‑extra large protein expression compared with the control (P<0.05). Furthermore, BLSA treatment was determined to modulate CNE‑1 cell expression of nuclear factor (NF)‑κB and NF‑κB inhibitor α. The results of the present study indicate that BLSA has anticancer activity through inducing cellular apoptosis. In addition, these results suggest that BLSA can be used as a therapeutic agent in NPC.