Effects of polyphyllin I on growth inhibition of human non-small lung cancer cells and in xenograft

Polyphyllin I (PPI), a small molecular monomer extracted from Rhizoma of Paris polyphyllin, shows strong anticancer effects in previous study. Human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells, human lung squamous cell carcinoma SK-MES-1 cells, and human lung large cell carcinoma H460 cells were cultured and then treated with PPI. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, flow cytometry, western blot analysis, and DNA ladder. Athymic nude mice bearing tumors were injected with PPI, and tumor growth was recorded. Our results showed that PPI significantly inhibited the proliferation of three non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines, with the inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 1.24, 2.40, and 2.33 mu g/ml for A549, H460, and SK-MES-1 cells, respectively. After being treated with 2.5 mu g/ml of PPI for 24 h, the apoptotic rate of A549 cells was 39.68%, which was remarkably higher than that of the control. Tumor growth was significantly inhibited in the PPI-treated group compared with the group treated with cisplatin (DDP) or PBS in the nude mice. PPI exhibits antitumor ability in NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo, which might be related to the apoptosis induced by PPI.