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Berberine inhibits the growth of human colorectal adenocarcinoma in vitro and in vivo

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Abstract

Berberine is an alkaloid isolated from the Chinese herbal medicine Huanglian, and has long been used as an antibiotic. Its antineoplastic properties were subsequently discovered in vitro. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of berberine on the growth of human colorectal carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that berberine inhibited human colorectal adenocarcinoma (LoVo) cell growth in a time- and dose-dependent manner. A WST-1 assay showed that the IC50 value after 72 h was 40.79 ± 4.11 μM. Cell cycle analysis of 40 μM berberine-treated LoVo cells by flow cytometry showed accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase. The inhibition of LoVo cell growth by berberine was associated with the suppression of cyclin B1, cdc2, and cdc25c proteins. Berberine at a dose of 50 mg kg−1 day−1 showed inhibitory rates of 45.3 % in a human colorectal adenocarcinoma xenograft in nude mice. The combination of berberine and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) had a higher inhibitory rate (59.8 %) than the berberine group (36.4 %, P = 0.01), but no significant difference was observed between the 5-FU group (43.0 %, P = 0.06) and the combination group. These results support the possibility that berberine may be useful as an alternative therapy for colorectal carcinoma.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National-Eleventh Five technology major project (Grant number: 2008ZX09312-002) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Young Scientist Project #81201716).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yuchen Cai, Qing Xia, Rongzhen Luo, Peiyu Huang, Yueli Sun, Yanxia Shi & Wenqi Jiang

  2. Experimental Research Department, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yuchen Cai & Yueli Sun

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Qing Xia, Rongzhen Luo, Peiyu Huang, Yanxia Shi & Wenqi Jiang

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  1. Yuchen Cai
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Correspondence to Yanxia Shi or Wenqi Jiang.

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Cai, Y., Xia, Q., Luo, R. et al. Berberine inhibits the growth of human colorectal adenocarcinoma in vitro and in vivo. J Nat Med 68, 53–62 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-013-0766-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-013-0766-z

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