The effect and mechanism of DADS inhibiting the proliferation and inducing apoptosis of gastro-esophageal adenocarcinoma cell line OE19

Objective: To investigate the effect and mechanism of DADS in inhibiting the proliferation and inducing apoptosis of gastro-esophageal cancer cells in vitro. Methods: The gastro-esophageal adenocarcinoma cells OE19 were treated by DADS of different concentrations in vitro. Morphologic changes were observed by the microscope and MTT assay was performed to test the growth-inhibitory effect of DADS on OE19 cells. Apoptosis rate of OE19 treated with different concentrations of DADS was measured by flow cytometry. Real-time PCR was used to detect DADS-induced effects on mRNA expressions of Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Bcl-2, Bax and NF-κB in OE19 cells. Results: DADS inhibited the proliferation of OE19 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The apoptosis rate of OE19 cells was 14.0%, 25.4% and 19.0% and 27.2%, respectively, when treated with 40 and 80 μg/mL DADS for 24 h and 48 h. Real-time PCR assay showed that DADS could enhance mRNA expression levels of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 and significantly decrease the mRNA expression levels of NF-κB and Bcl-2 and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax. Conclusion: DADS can significantly inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of gastro-esophageal adenocarcinoma cells via mitochondria-dependent pathways, which may be related to NF-κB and Bcl-2 families.