Effects and mechanism of juglone in combination with 5-FU on colon cancer CT-26 cells in vivo

Abstract

The effects and mechanism of juglone alone or combined with 5-fluorouracil on colon cancer CT-26 cells were examined in vivo. Starting at 5 weeks of age, male Balb/c mice were transplanted the CT-26 cells and treated with juglone alone or combined with 5- fluorouracil. Observed the morphologic characteristics of tumor tissue by HE staining after treatment of 9 days. We detected the content of IL-2, VEGF and IFN-γ in serum and the protein expression of ki-67, E-cad and Bcl-2 in tumor tissue. The inhibition rate of animals given low-dose or high-dose juglone alone and combined with 5-fluorouracil is 31.73%, 40.38%, 56.73% and 75.01% respectively. Animals given juglone alone or combined with 5-fluorouracil could increase the content of IL-2 and IFN-γ in serum and the expression of E-cad and decrease the content of VEGF in serum and the expression of ki-67 and Bcl-2 significantly compared with those injected 2% ethanol NS ( P <0.05 in each). The present data suggest that the juglone could reduce the risk of CT-26 cells metastasis and proliferation and enhance the function of the immune system. The possible anti-tumor mechanism of juglone is down-regulated expression of Bcl-2 to induce the apoptosis of tumor cells.