Positive Health Online

Abstract

LIU and COLLEAGUES, (1)Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Xijing Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. xiaoyan_xin@126.com studied the combination of fenretinide and selenite on ovarian cancer cells and their effects upon proliferation and ability to induce apoptosis.

Background

Methodology

The combination of fenretinide and selenite on ovarian cancer cells was investigated to assess its effects on proliferation and ability to induce apoptosis.

Results

The authors’ results showed that fenretinide and selenite in combination significantly suppress the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells and induced apoptosis (including reactive oxygen species generation, and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential) compared with either drug used alone. The caspase3/9-dependent pathway was triggered significantly in combination treatment, and moreover, the AMPK pathway also mediated the apoptosis induction in fenretinide and selenite combination.

Conclusion

Fenretinide and selenite combination treatment was demonstrated to suppress tumour growth in vivo; this drug combination has been thus found to have an enhanced anti-tumour effect on ovarian cancers cells.

References

Liu J(1), Li J, Zhang JF, Xin XY. Combination of fenretinide and selenite inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells. Int J Mol Sci. 14(11):21790-804. doi: 10.3390/ijms141121790. Nov 4 2013.

Comment

The mechanism in the above research regarding the ability of fenretinide and selenite to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells involved the generation of reactive oxygen species and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential - the importance of mitochondria again highlighted.