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Resveratrol plays dual roles in pancreatic cancer cells

  • Original Article - Cancer Research
  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Although the potential anticancer effect of resveratrol (RSV) on pancreatic cancer has been reported, its mechanism was not fully understood. The role of vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) in cancer remains controversial. Herein, we aimed to examine whether the anticancer effect of RSV was related to the VEGF-B.

Methods

The effect of RSV on pancreatic cancer cell line (capan-2 cells) was evaluated by CCK-8 assay, Hoechst 33342 staining, and flow cytometry. The mRNA level of VEGF-B was measured by real-time PCR. VEGF-B expression was knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA).The protein levels of VEGF-B, glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β), and Bax were measured by Western blot.

Results

Resveratrol treatment inhibited tumor growth, induced apoptosis, and up-regulated Bax expression in capan-2 cells. The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-B were up-regulated after RSV treatment. However, VEGF-B siRNA treatment increased the apoptotic rate, and inhibited tumor activator GSK-3β, while Bax expression was not affected. The combination of RSV and VEGF-B siRNA showed significantly higher apoptotic rate in comparison with RSV or VEGF-B siRNA mono-treatment group.

Conclusions

Resveratrol plays dual roles in pancreatic cancer: as a tumor suppressor via the up-regulation of Bax; as a tumor activator via the up-regulation of VEGF-B; and the anticancer effect of RSV is much stronger than the cancer promotion effect. The combination of RSV with pharmacological inhibitor of VEGF-B might, therefore, be a promising modality for clinical pancreatic cancer therapy.

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Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81201206), the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 11JCYBJC10000), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20120031120058), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81101222), and Science Foundation of Tianjin Medical University (No. 2010ky16). The authors thank Pro. Yang Wang, Zhiping Xie for providing us instruments, and also thank Ms. Nancy Bai for the careful language correction.

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Histology and Embryology, Nankai University School of Medicine, 94 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin, 300071, China

    Lei Yang, Mengmeng Zhu, Yan Zhang, Yinan Yang, Fei Liu & Zhi Qi

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin, 300071, China

    Liang Yang, Wencong Tian, Jing Li & Jie Liu

  3. School of Laboratory Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, 1 Guangdong Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300203, China

    Qiong Zhang, Qianqian Liu & Yanna Shen

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  1. Lei Yang
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  2. Liang Yang
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  3. Wencong Tian
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanna Shen or Zhi Qi.

Additional information

Lei Yang and Liang Yang have contributed equally to this study.

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Yang, L., Yang, L., Tian, W. et al. Resveratrol plays dual roles in pancreatic cancer cells. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 140, 749–755 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1624-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1624-4

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