Berberine decreases cell growth but increases the

Authors: Ji Hyun Sung Jong Bin Kim Sung Hyo Park Seo Young Park Jin Kyung Lee HoiSeon Lee Namhyun Chung

Publish Date: 2012/08/31

Volume: 55, Issue: 4, Pages: 491-495

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Abstract

Berberine has been reported to inhibit tumor growth in lung cancer Thus the effects of berberine on cancer cells as well as the cancer stem cell side population SP fraction were investigated in the H460 lung cancer cell line and the effects of berberine treatment on cell growth cell cycle and cell death were evaluated Changes in the SP fraction were examined after treatment with berberine 5fluorouracil 5FU and cotreatment Berberine inhibited cancer cell growth in a dosedependent manner Treatment of the cells with berberine resulted in a 4 increase in cell death and an 8 increase in the number of cells of G0/G1 phase compared to the untreated control To examine the relationship between berberine and cancer stem cells the SP fraction was analyzed Surprisingly the SP cell fraction was increased upon berberine treatment and further increased after cotreatment with 5FU These results are in contrast to the study of Kim et al 2008 with MCF7 breast cancer cells in which berberine inhibited the growth of both cancer cells and the corresponding cancer stem cells Results of the present study suggest that berberine should be used with caution in the treatment of various cancers despite its positive effect on cancer cell growth inhibition

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