Baicalein Inhibits Orthotopic Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Xenografts via Src/Id1 Pathway

Zhengxiao Zhao; Baojun Liu; Jing Sun; Linwei Lu; Lumei Liu; Jian Qiu; Qiuping Li; Chen Yan; Shan Jiang; Nabijan Mohammadtursun; Wenjuan Ma; Mihui Li; Jingcheng Dong; Weiyi Gong

doi:10.1155/2019/9806062

Baicalein Inhibits Orthotopic Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Xenografts via Src/Id1 Pathway

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019 Mar 4:2019:9806062. doi: 10.1155/2019/9806062. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Zhengxiao Zhao¹, Baojun Liu^{1

2}, Jing Sun^{1

2}, Linwei Lu^{1

2}, Lumei Liu^{1

2}, Jian Qiu^{1

2}, Qiuping Li^{1

2}, Chen Yan^{1

2}, Shan Jiang^{1

2}, Nabijan Mohammadtursun^{1

2}, Wenjuan Ma³, Mihui Li^{1

2}, Jingcheng Dong¹, Weiyi Gong¹

Affiliations

¹ The Department of Integrative Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Middle Urumqi Road, Shanghai 200040, China.
² The Institutes of Integrative Medicine of Fudan University, 12 Middle Urumqi Road, Shanghai 200040, China.
³ Department of dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.

Abstract

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide. Inhibitor of differentiation 1 (Id1) is the member mostly linked to tumorigenesis in Id family and a potential molecular target in cancer therapy. In the current study, we established an orthotopic lung cancer model by injecting athymic nude mice with A549 cells and evaluated the antitumor effect of baicalein and expression of Id1-related proteins in vivo and in vitro. Micro-CT images showed that tumor volume in baicalein group was significantly reduced. Western blot analysis revealed that baicalein suppressed the expression of Id1 protein, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related molecules (N-Cadherin, vimentin), and angiogenesis related protein (VEGF-A), accompanied by upregulation of epithelial markers (such as E-cadherin). In addition, phosphorylation of upstream molecular Src was significantly restrained after baicalein treatment. This study firstly demonstrates that baicalein inhibits tumor growth in orthotopic human NSCLC xenografts via targeting Src/Id1 pathway.