Alopecurone B reverses doxorubicin-resistant human osteosarcoma cell line by inhibiting P-glycoprotein and NF-kappa B signaling

• Alopecurone B enhances doxorubicin toxicity in MG-63 doxorubicin-resistance cells.
• Alopecurone B increases doxorubicin-induced apoptosis at non-toxic concentration.
• Alopecurone B suppresses P-glycoprotein in MG-63 doxorubicin-resistance cell line.
• Alopecurone B can reverse drug resistance by inhibiting NF-kappaB signaling.

Doxorubicin (DOX) was first used in osteosarcoma in the early 1970s as a first-line antineoplastic drug. However, the occurrence of drug resistance in chemotherapeutic treatment has greatly restricted its use. When resistance to DOX treatment occurs, osteosarcoma may become not only resistant to the drug originally administered but also to a wide variety of structurally and mechanistically unrelated drugs. Thus, there is an urgent need to find ways of reversing DOX chemotherapy resistance in osteosarcoma. Plant-derived agents have great potential in preventing the onset of the carcinogenic process and enhancing the efficacy of conventional antitumor drugs. Alopecurone B (ALOB), a flavonoid, is isolated from Traditional Chinese Medicine Sophora alopecuroides L., and is reported to have potent inhibitory effect on multidrug resistance associated protein 1. In this study, a DOX-resistant osteosarcoma cell line (MG-63/DOX) was established by increasing the concentration gradient of DOX in a stepwise manner. MTT assay, flow cytometry analysis, dual-luciferase reporter gene assay, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were applied to investigate the reversing effect of ALOB and its underlying mechanisms. The results indicated that ALOB mediated the resistance of MG-63/DOX cells to DOX by inhibiting P-glycoprotein function, transcription and expression. Besides, ALOB also enhanced the sensitivity of MG-63/DOX cells to other conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Cell viability assay confirmed the reversing activity of ALOB. Furthermore, ALOB increased DOX-induced apoptosis at nontoxic concentration. In addition, ALOB showed inhibitory effect on NF-κB transcription in a DOX-independent manner. Furthermore, NF-κB signaling was suppressed by ALOB in an IKK-dependent manner. These studies not only demonstrate that ALOB is a potential agent for reversal of drug resistant cancers, but also testify that ALOB reverses multidrug resistance by inhibiting P-glycoprotein via NF-κB signaling.

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