Abstract:Objective：To investigate the inhibitory effect of combined treatment of allicin with paclitaxel on gastric cancer cell lines and promotion of apoptosis and its possible mechanism.
Methods ：After treatment with allicin or paclitaxel alone or in combination ,the MGC-803 gastric cancer cells growth was determined by MTT assay. Flow cyctometry was used to determine apoptosis of gastric cells.The expression of mRNA of bcl-2 and bax genes was detected by RT-PCR, and the expressions of protein bcl-2 and bax were detected by Western blotting.
Results：Both allcin and paclitaxel alone could inhibit the growth of MGC-803 gastric cancer cells in a dose dependent manner . Combined treatment of allcin 9ug/mL with paclitaxel (1-16μg/mL) resulted in a synergistic effect of inhibiting cell growth. After incubation with allcin 15μg/mL,paclitaxel 12μg/mL alone and in combination ,the apoptosis rate was 10.7%,30.4%,84.7%, respectively (P< 0.01).Treatment with combination of the two drugs enhanced expression of pro-apoptotic gene bax and reduced expression of the anti-apoptotic gene bcl-2, but there was no effect when the drugs were used singly.
Conclusions：The combined treatment of allicin with paclitaxel has a synergistic inhibiting effect on growth of gastric cancer cell lines, and induction of apoptosis by enhancing bax expression and decreasing bcl-2 expression may be the related mechanism.