Abstract 6125: Induction and modulation of apoptosis in pancreatic ductal carcinoma PANC-1 cells by Chinese medicinal herbs Scutellaria barbata and Oldenlandia diffusa
Authors: Kang MinSeo , Benjamin Allana , Choi Christine , Isaac Rekha , Wolf Sarah , Cha Jasmine , Choi Elim , Yi Jessica , Uppala Padma T. , Hayes Ryan , Wong Brian Yuen Yau 
Published: April 2023

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with a poor prognosis. It is usually symptom-free during development and is advanced by the time of diagnosis. PANC-1 is a pancreatic ductal carcinoma cell derived from a 56-year-old male with adenocarcinoma in the head of the pancreas and metastasized to the duodenal wall. Apoptosis is a controlled program cell death process that the body uses to combat cancer development. Scutellaria barbata (SB) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating liver, lung, and rectal cancers. SB and Oldenlanida diffusa (OD) are included in most of the herbal cancer treatment formulas in Taiwan hospitals. We previously showed that aqueous extracts of SB and OD selectively induced apoptosis in colon HCT 116 cancer cells but not in colon CCD 841 CoN normal epithelial cells by modulating the pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins. These two herbs also effectively modulated apoptosis in MDA-MB-157 and 93B breast cancer cells. Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of SB demonstrated effective anticancer activity against this PANC-1 cell. This study used the green/red/blue fluorescent Apoptosis/Necrosis Detection Kit and the Human Apoptosis Antibody Array - Membrane [43 Targets] Test (Abcam). Our fluorescent apoptosis data showed that a 2-hour treatment with 1.5 mg and 3.0 mg aqueous extract of SB and OD induced a statistically significant percentage of apoptosis in PANC-1 cells (SB: 57.5 ± 2.5%, 68.0 ± 0.0% &gt; 11.5% ± 3.5%, p &lt; 0.05; OD: 62.0 ± 9.0%, 67.0 ± 11.0%&gt; 11.5% ± 3.5%, p &lt; 0.05) as compared to the negative control respectively. Similar results were obtained with the 4-hour incubation period (SB: 73.5 ± 0.5%, 72.0 ± 2.0% &gt; 18.2% ± 2.0%, p &lt; 0.05; OD: 59.0 ± 1.0%, 73.5 ± 13.5%&gt; 18.2% ± 2.0%, p &lt; 0.05). From the antibody array-membrane experiments, modulation of various apoptosis markers by SB and OD such as the pro-apoptotic proteins Bid, Bim, Bad, Bax, p27, and p53 as compared to the negative controls were observed; and regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, FasL, IGF-I, and p21 were also revealed. These results suggest that SB and OD contain phytochemicals that induce apoptosis in pancreatic ductal carcinoma PANC-1 cells via the modulation of various apoptotic protein productions. Further study of their specific modulation effects of apoptosis is warranted to reveal their potential chemopreventive and therapeutic properties against pancreatic and other cancers.

Citation Format: MinSeo Kang, Allana Benjamin, Christine Choi, Rekha Isaac, Sarah Wolf, Jasmine Cha, Elim Choi, Jessica Yi, Padma T. Uppala, Ryan Hayes, Brian Yuen Yau Wong. Induction and modulation of apoptosis in pancreatic ductal carcinoma PANC-1 cells by Chinese medicinal herbs Scutellaria barbata and Oldenlandia diffusa [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6125.