Salidroside Promotes Sensitization to Doxorubicin in Human Cancer Cells by Affecting the PI3K/Akt/HIF Signal Pathway and Inhibiting the Expression of Tumor-Resistance-Related Proteins

J Nat Prod. 2022 Jan 28;85(1):196-204. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00950. Epub 2022 Jan 3.

Abstract

Salidroside (Sal), the major active constituent of Rhodiola rosea L., is considered as a potential pro-drug with various activities; however, its role in tumor therapy is not clear. Here, we demonstrated in vitro and in vivo that Sal enhanced the inhibitory activity of doxorubicin (DOX) in drug-resistant cancer cell lines. Our results showed that combination drug treatment (Sal and DOX) significantly decreased cell proliferation, migration, and motility. Besides biological validation, a luciferase-labeled animal tumor xenograft model and bioluminescence imaging (BLI) were applied for assessing the tumor progression. Sal combined with DOX inhibited the growth of HeLa-ADR-luc cells in vivo and downregulated the DOX-induced high expression of MDR1. Also, Sal downregulated the Bcl-2, MMP-2, MMP-9, PI3K, and AKT and upregulated BAX proteins. Sal demonstrated high safety and cardiac protection activity. We discovered that Sal enhances DOX sensitivity through the regulation of PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α and DOX-induced resistance pathways. Our results suggest that Sal could be a novel chemosensitization agent for the treatment of multi-drug-resistance tumors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / drug effects*
  • Glucosides / pharmacology*
  • Humans
  • Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / metabolism*
  • Phenols / pharmacology*
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / metabolism*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects*

Substances

  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic
  • Glucosides
  • HIF1A protein, human
  • Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit
  • Phenols
  • Doxorubicin
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
  • rhodioloside