Trichosanthin down-regulated p210Bcr-Abl and enhanced imatinib-induced growth arrest in chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line K562
Authors: Zhiqiang Zhang
Caixia Wen
Jianhua Xu
Lixian Wu
Yuanzhong Chen
Xiuwang Huang
Kunzhong Zhang
Yu Su
Yingying Hu
Journal: Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology (2007)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: Trichosanthin; cancer therapeutic agents; K562 cells; growth arrest; molecular mechanisms
Affiliations: Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fujian 350004, People's Republic China.

Abstract:  Purpose: Trichosanthin (TCS), an active component extracted from the root tubers of traditional Chinese medical herb Tian-Hua-Fen of the Cucurbitaceae family, has long been used for medical purpose in China; there is increasing interest in developing TCS as cancer therapeutic agents. The present study was to investigate the growth arrest of K562 cells and its molecular mechanisms, which the drugs induced by TCS and the possible functional interaction of TCS with imatinib (STI571) to K562 cells. Methods: Trypan blue exclusive staining was used to access the cell growth inhibition; western blot was used to evaluate the p210(Bcr-Abl), phosphorylated tyrosine kinase (PTK), and some signaling molecules involving in cell proliferation and apoptosis in K562 cells. Results: TCS and imatinib inhibited K562 cells at a time- and dose-dependent manners, respectively; TCS down-regulated p210(Bcr-Abl) at a time- and dose-dependent manners; TCS synergistically enhanced imatinib-induced K562 cell growth arrest and down-regulation of p210(Bcr-Abl), PTK activities, procaspase-3, Hsp90,NF-kappaB and PKC. Conclusion: The results suggest that TCS not only by itself involves but also synergizes activities of imatinib to induce K562 cell growth arrest, down-regulation of p210(Bcr-Abl) and its downstream signals and to stimulate the effect of the tyrosine kinase inhibition. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 3: * Pink boxes point out similarities between lanes in different panels. The left and right lanes also share unexpected similarities with each other. * Purple boxes point out similar areas between different bands. * Green boxes point out two bands in different lanes that look quite similar * Red boxes point out two panels that look more similar than expected. Reported to the journal together with 28 other papers in the summer of 2015, with a friendly reminder in April 2017, but no answer. With the exception of one paper, the journal did not correct or retract a single paper from this set.  , 
 Thank you for your attention to the figures in this article. Since the first author of this article has been away from the laboratory for more than ten years, I will contact him to check the figures.At the same time, I also quickly checked the seemingly similar pictures in the paper, such as Fig3B,and D. After careful examination, it is easy to see that many detailed features of the two are different, so they should not be considered as the same picture.   , 
 #2 Dr. Xu: Thank you for responding. I agree with #1 that those two panels share more similarities than would be expected. While the image quality I have access to is low, after adjusting the contrast and size of one of the panels I still have concerns. Best wishes on locating the original data. ***  *** With blur effect  ,