Insulin enhancement of the antitumor activity of chemotherapeutic agents in colorectal cancer is linked with downregulating PIK3CA and GRB2.

ABSTRACT: The present state of cancer chemotherapy is unsatisfactory. New anticancer drugs that marginally improve the survival of patients continue to be developed at an unsustainably high cost. The study aimed to elucidate the effects of insulin (INS), an inexpensive drug with a convincing safety profile, on the susceptibility of colon cancer to chemotherapeutic agents: 5-fluorouracil (FU), oxaliplatin (OXA), irinotecan (IRI), cyclophosphamide (CPA) and docetaxel (DOC). To examine the effects of insulin on cell viability and apoptosis, we performed an in vitro analysis on colon cancer cell lines Caco-2 and SW480. To verify the results, we performed in vivo analysis on mice bearing MC38 colon tumors. To assess the underlying mechanism of the therapy, we examined the mRNA expression of pathways rela

SUBMITTER: Agrawal S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6851401 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature