Capsaicin exerts synergistic antitumor effect with sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma cells through AMPK activation.

ABSTRACT: In this study, we investigated the antitumoral effects of combined treatment using sorafenib and capsaicin in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Here we showed that the combination of the two drugs had a much stronger inhibitory effect on both HepG2 and Huh-7 human HCC cells growth than either drug alone. The isobolograms demonstrated that the combinations investigated in this study produced a synergistic interaction. In the combination treatment using capsaicin and sorafenib, increased apoptosis, followed by the activation of caspase-9 and PARP, was observed. In addition, the present study demonstrated that sorafenib treatment induces activation of Akt, probably as a mechanism of resistance, whereas capsaicin inhibits Akt providing a possible pathway whereby capsaicin sensitizes to sor

SUBMITTER: Bort A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5675664 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature