Research Paper Volume 14, Issue 16 pp 6642—6655

Rhein promotes TRAIL-induced apoptosis in bladder cancer cells by up-regulating DR5 expression

Liang Ma1,2, *, , Hong-Ling Wei3,4, *, , Ke-Jie Wang3,4, , Xiang-Yu Meng3,4, , Sai-Qi Ni3,4, , Cheng Zhou5, , Yi Li6, , Rui Yu1, , Qi Ma2,3,4,5, ,

  • 1 Medical School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, China
  • 2 Comprehensive Urogenital Cancer Center, Ningbo First Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315010, China
  • 3 Translational Research Laboratory for Urology, The Key Laboratory of Ningbo City, Ningbo First Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315010, China
  • 4 Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Urological Disease, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315010, China
  • 5 Department of Urology, Ningbo First Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315010, China
  • 6 Department of Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China
* Equal contribution

Received: March 22, 2022       Accepted: August 3, 2022       Published: August 19, 2022      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.204236
How to Cite

Copyright: © 2022 Ma et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) combined with sensitizer is a potential method to reverse TRAIL-resistance in tumor cells. Rhein (RH) is a monomer extracted from Chinese herbs that has been reported to show anti-tumor effects in a variety of tumor cells, but the role of RH in TRAIL-induced anti-tumor effects in bladder cancer cells has not been reported. In this study, we found that the combined treatment of a non-toxic concentration of RH with TRAIL significantly inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis in both TRAIL sensitive and resistant bladder cancer cell lines. Furthermore, we found that RH promoted bladder cancer cell apoptosis by up-regulating DR5 expression. Our findings provide potential value in the clinical treatment of bladder cancer.

Abbreviations

CCK-8: Cell Counting Kit-8; DMEM: Dulbecco's modification of eagle’s medium; FBS: fetal bovine serum; FCM: Flow cytometry; GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; PBS: Phosphate buffered saline; qPCR: quantitative PCR; RH: Rhein.