Background The aim of this study is to investigate the anticancer

Background The aim of this study is to investigate the anticancer activity of streptochlorin, a novel antineoplastic agent, in cholangiocarcinoma. of liver metastasis. In a tumor xenograft study using SNU478 cells, streptochlorin significantly inhibited tumor growth without changes in body weight when compared with the control. Conclusion These results reveal that streptochlorin is a promising chemotherapeutic agent to the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma. sp. 04DH110 and its structure was defined.19 Specifically, streptochlorin inhibits activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NFB) and has anti-angiogenic/anti-invasive activity in cancer cells.16 Streptochlorin inhibited vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced invasion and tube formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells at very low concentrations, indicating that streptochlorin would be effective in decreasing the potential of cancer cells to metastasize.16 Streptochlorin also induced apoptosis of human leukemic U937 cells.18 It has a proapoptotic effect against U937 cells via activation of caspases and the mitochondria. In this study, we investigated the anticancer efficacy of streptochlorin against various CC cell lines. Since CC cells have different physiological behavior compared to other systemic cancer cells, streptochlorin as an anticancer agent was evaluated with various carcinogenic behavior of CC cells such as proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration and metastasis. Materials and methods Chemicals Streptochlorin was obtained as previously reported.19 Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium, fetal bovine serum, and other components used for cell culture were purchased from Life Technologies (Grand Island, NY, USA). Fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated Annexin V and propidium iodide were purchased from BD Biosciences (Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). All reagents used were extra-pure grade. Cell culture HuCC-T1 (human intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma) cell 68373-14-8 line was obtained from the Health Science Research Resources Bank (Osaka, Japan), and SNU478 (human ampulla of Vater carcinoma), SNU1196 (human extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma), and SNU245 (human common bile duct carcinoma) cells from the Korean Cell Line Bank (Seoul, Korea). All CC cells were maintained in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% antibiotics. Trypan blue exclusion assay CC cells were seeded in 24-well plates at densities of 3104 cells/mL for inhibition of growth and 3105 cells/mL for anticancer activity, respectively. After incubation overnight, streptochlorin dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and diluted with culture medium was added to the CC cells and inhibition of cell growth was monitored for 24 hours. Anticancer activity was assessed with streptochlorin diluted in serum-free RPMI 1640 medium. The cells were harvested by trypsinization and resuspended. Trypan blue was then added for cell counting. Growth inhibition and cytotoxicity were evaluated by counting the number of cells using a Countess automated cell counter (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA). Annexin V/propidium iodide binding assay First, 1106 cells seeded in 100 mm dishes were treated with various concentrations of streptochlorin for 24 hours. The cells were harvested by trypsinization 68373-14-8 and then washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The cells were resuspended in 100 L of binding buffer (10 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1- piperazine ethanesulfonic acid [HEPES] pH 7.4, CMH-1 150 M NaCl, 5 mM KCl, 1 mM MgCl2, 1.8 mM CaCl2). Fluorescein isothiocyanate-Annexin V (1 g/mL) was added to stain the apoptotic cells following incubation for 30 minutes. Ten minutes before termination, propidium iodide 10 g/mL was added 68373-14-8 to stain the necrotic cells. Apoptotic and necrotic cells were then detected using an FACScan flow cytometer with a 15 mW argon laser and excitation at 488 nm (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) according to the manufacturers instructions. Protein lysates and Western blot analysis Western blot analysis was performed as described 68373-14-8 previously.21 Cells seeded in 100 mm culture dishes were treated with streptochlorin for 24 hours. Cells were detached by trypsinization, washed with PBS, and harvested by centrifugation. The cell pellets were lysed with lysis buffer (50 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, 1% NP-40, 0.5% deoxycholic acid, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, [SDS]) along with phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and a protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA). The lysed cell suspension was centrifuged at 14,000 for 30 minutes at 4C, and the cell lysates were collected. The protein concentration was determined using a bicinchoninic acid protein assay kit (Pierce, Rockford, IL, USA). Western blotting procedures were as follows: 50 g of protein was introduced into SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and then transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. Proteins in the membrane.