Marsdenia tenacissima extract inhibits viability and induces apoptosis of melanoma cells via regulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

AIM:To evaluate the effects of Marsdenia tenacissima extract (MTE) on the viability and apoptosis of mouse skin melanoma cell line B16-F10. METHODS:B16-F10 cells were treated with MTE at different doses for 24 h or at different doses for different time, and the cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. The protein levels were determined by Western blot. Meanwhile, the cells were treated with insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and the protein levels were measured again. RESULTS:The cells were treated with MTE for 72 h for further study according to the results of pre-experiments. MTE at 100 and 200 mg/L inhibited the viability of B16-F10 cells and decreased the protein expression of Ki67 and PCNA significantly. MTE induced the apoptosis of B16-F10 cells as demonstrated by increasing cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9. Meanwhile, MTE down-regulated the protein levels of p-PI3K, p-AKT and mTOR. In addition, IGF-1, the activator of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, alleviated the effects of MTE on the viability and apoptosis markedly. CONCLUSION:MTE inhibits the viability and induces the apoptosis of melanoma cells by down-regulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.