Studies on the non-invasive anticancer remedy of the triple combination of epigallocatechin gallate, pulsed electric field, and ultrasound
Journal
PLoS ONE
Journal Volume
13
Journal Issue
8
Date Issued
2018
Author(s)
Abstract
Cancer is one of the most troublesome diseases and a leading cause of death worldwide. Recently, novel treatments have been continuously developed to improve the disadvantages of conventional therapies, such as prodigious expenses, unwanted side effects, and tumor recurrence. Here, we provide the first non-invasive treatment that has combined epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechin in green tea, with a low strength pulsed electric field (PEF) and a low energy ultrasound (US). It has been observed that the cell viability of human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 was decreased approximately to 20% of the control after this combination treatment for 72 h. Besides, the combined triple treatment significantly reduced the high tolerance of HepG2 cells to the EGCG-induced cytotoxicity and similarly exhibited compelling proliferation-inhibitory effects. We also found the combined triple treatment increased the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and acidic vesicles, and the EGCG-induced inhibition of Akt phosphorylation was dramatically intensified. In this study, the apoptosis inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK and the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA were, respectively, shown to attenuate the anticancer effects of the triple treatment. This indicates that the triple treatment-induced autophagy was switched from cytoprotective to cytotoxic, and hence, cooperatively caused cell death with the apoptosis. Since the EGCG is easily accessible from the green tea and mild for a long-term treatment, and the non-invasive physical stimulations could be modified to focus on a specific location, this combined triple treatment may serve as a promising strategy for anticancer therapy. ? 2018 Hsieh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
SDGs
Other Subjects
3 methyladenine; benzyloxycarbonylvalylalanylaspartyl fluoromethyl ketone; epigallocatechin gallate; protein kinase B; reactive oxygen metabolite; caspase; catechin; epigallocatechin gallate; reactive oxygen metabolite; acidity; antineoplastic activity; antiproliferative activity; apoptosis; Article; autophagy; cell death; cell protection; cell vacuole; cell viability; controlled study; drug cytotoxicity; drug potentiation; enzyme inhibition; enzyme phosphorylation; Hep-G2 cell line; human; human cell; non invasive procedure; PANC-1 cell line; pulsed electric field; tea; ultrasound therapy; analogs and derivatives; cell proliferation; cell survival; drug effect; metabolism; multimodality cancer therapy; neoplasm; pathology; procedures; pulsed radiofrequency treatment; tumor cell line; ultrasound; ultrasound therapy; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Caspases; Catechin; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Combined Modality Therapy; Humans; Neoplasms; Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment; Reactive Oxygen Species; Ultrasonic Therapy; Ultrasonic Waves
Type
journal article