[Cerulenin inhibits growth of human colonic carcinoma in
nude mice]
[Article in Chinese]
Huang P, Zhu S, Lu S, Li L, Dai Z, Jin Y.
Department of Pathology, Medical College, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009,
China.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of fatty acid synthase inhibitor, cerulenin,
on tumor growth of human colonic carcinoma (LoVo) in nude mice. METHODS: The
transplantable colonic carcinoma cell line LoVo model was established in BALB/CA-nu/nu
mice by subcutaneous implantation. Cerulenin was administrated by i.p. injection
(80 mg/kg, 160 mg/kg each time) for 10 times. 17 days later the mice were killed
and tumor size evaluated. RESULTS: The size of tumors in cerulenin-treated group
were significantly smaller than in control group and were similar to that of the
5-Fu treated group. Transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) revealed that death
of LoVo cells treated by cerulenin was associated with apoptosis characterized
by cell shrinkage, condensation and chromosome fragmentation. bcl-2 oncoprotein
expression rate was significantly lower in cerulenin-treated group in comparing
with the control group. The expression rate of bax was the opposite to that of
bcl-2. CONCLUSIONS: Cerulenin effectively suppresses the growth of human colonic
carcinoma cells in vivo. The mechanism of cell death may be correlated with
apoptosis, and bcl-2 and bax gene may play an important role in regulating
cerulenin-induced apoptosis.
