Flavonoid components in Scutellaria baicalensis inhibit nicotine-induced proliferation, metastasis and lung cancer-associated inflammation in vitro

• Published in: International journal of oncology Vol. 44; no. 5; pp. 1561 - 1570
• Main Authors: GONG, WEI-YI, WU, JIN-FENG, LIU, BAO-JUN, ZHANG, HONG-YING, CAO, YU-XUE, SUN, JING, LV, YU-BAO, WU, XIAO, DONG, JING-CHENG
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Greece D.A. Spandidos 01.05.2014; Spandidos Publications; Spandidos Publications UK Ltd
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - pharmacology; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Bioflavonoids; Cancer; Care and treatment; Cell culture; Cell cycle; Cell growth; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cigarettes; Cytokines; Flavanones - pharmacology; Flavones; Flavonoids; Flavonoids - pharmacology; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic - drug effects; Health aspects; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Inflammation; Inflammation - chemically induced; Inflammation - complications; Inflammation - pathology; Laboratories; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - chemically induced; Lung Neoplasms - complications; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Medicinal plants; Metastasis; Neoplasm Metastasis - pathology; Nicotine; Nicotine - adverse effects; Oncology, Experimental; Phytochemicals; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Protein expression; Proteins; Scullcap; Scutellaria baicalensis; Smoking; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; China
• ISSN: 1019-6439; 1791-2423
• DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2014.2320

The objective of the present study was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of flavonoid components in Scutellaria baicalensis on proliferation, metastasis and lung cancer-associated inflammation during nicotine induction in the A549 and H1299 lung cancer cell lines. After experimental period, augmentation of proliferation was observed, accompanied by marked decrease in apoptotic cells in nicotine-induced lung cancer cells; additionally, nicotine-exposed cells exhibited increased invasive and migratory abilities based on invasion and wound-healing assay. Flavones in Scutellaria, baicalin, baicalein and wogonin significantly counteracted the above deleterious changes. Moreover, assessment of tumor apoptotic and metastatic factors on mRNA levels by quantitative PCR and protein levels by western blotting revealed that these phytochemical treatments effectively negated nicotine-induced upregulated expression of bcl-2, bcl-2/bax ratio, caspase-3, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 as well as downregulated expression of bax. Further analysis of inflammatory markers such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 in cell culture supernatant and mRNA and protein expression of nuclear transcription factor-kappaB (NF-κB) and I kappa B-alpha (IκB-α) was carried out to substantiate the anti-inflammatory effect of flavones in Scutellaria in nicotine-exposed lung cancer cells. The therapeutic effects observed in the present study are attributed to the potent potential against proliferation, metastasis and inflammatory microenvironment by flavonoid components in Scutellaria in nicotine-induced lung cancer cells.