Nobiletin Induces Apoptosis and Potentiates the Effects of the Anticancer Drug 5-Fluorouracil in p53-Mutated SNU-16 Human Gastric Cancer Cells

Abstract

Nobiletin is a typical polymethoxyl flavone from citrus fruits that has anticancer properties, but the molecular mechanism of its inhibitory effects on the growth of p53-mutated SNU-16 human gastric cancer cells has not been explored. In this study, nobiletin was found to be effective at inhibiting the proliferation of SNU-16 cells than other flavonoids. Nobiletin induced the death of SNU-16 cells through apoptosis, as evidenced by the increased cell population in the sub-G1 phase, the appearance of fragmented nuclei, an increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, the proteolytic activation of caspase-9, an increase in caspase-3 activity, and the degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) protein. We found that the combination of nobiletin plus the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) reduced the viability of SNU-16 cells in a concentration-dependent manner and exhibited a synergistic anticancer effect (combination index = 0.38) when 5-FU was used at relatively low concentrations. The expression of p53 protein increased after treatment with 5-FU, but not nobiletin, whereas the expression of p21 ^WAF1/CIP1 protein increased after treatment with nobiletin, but not 5-FU. The cellular responses to nobiletin and 5-FU occurred through different pathways. The results of this study suggest the potential application of nobiletin to the enhancement of 5-FU efficiency in p53 mutant tumors.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2011-0003326) and (2010-0012641).