Cisplatin (CP) is one of the most effective and widely used compounds in the treatment of disease, including cancer, but is known to induce toxicity in patients. Rutin (RUT) is a flavonoid glycoside from Sophora japonica L. that has been shown to possess antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. RUT is also known to attenuate cardiotoxicity, isoproterenol-induced cardiac fibrosis, and ischemia/reperfusion-associated hemodynamic alteration, and prevents high glucose-induced renal glomerular endothelial hyperpermeability. In this study, we investigated the effect of RUT on CP-induced nephrotoxicity. CP was used to induce toxicity in human mesangial cells (HMCs), HMCs were pretreated with different concentrations of RUT before being exposed to 10 μg/mL of CP. A positive group was pretreated with antioxidant agent N-acetylcysteine prior to CP administration. At doses between 12.5 and 25 μM, RUT prevented CP-induced reduction in cell viability. Treatment with RUT suppressed intracellular reactive oxygen species and malonic dialdehyde levels and inhibited cell apoptosis. RUT reversed the CP-induced upregulation of p53, cleaved-caspase-3, and increased pro-caspase-3 and pro-caspase-9 levels. In conclusion, the RUT can relieve CP-induced nephrotoxicity by inhibiting the p53/caspase signaling pathway.

Idarubicin (IDA) is an anthracycline antibiotic, frequently used for the treatment of various human cancers. In vivo rodent model studies have identified a variety of possible adverse outcomes from IDA including heart effects like increased heart weights, myocardial histopathological injury, electrocardiogram abnormalities, and cardiac dysfunction. Despite significant investigations, the molecular mechanisms responsible for the cardiotoxicity of IDA have not been fully clarified. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of IDA on the HL-1 cardiac muscle cell. Different concentrations of IDA (10−6, 10−5, 10−4, and 10−3 M) were used at different time (6, 12, 24, and 48 h) periods, and the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8); 2,7-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) probe method; and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to detect the oxidative stress level. In addition, we used network analysis to predict IDA-induced cardiotoxicity. The TUNEL assay, qRT-PCR, ELISA assay, and Western blotting detection of related apoptotic factors including caspase family, Bax, and Bcl-2. Overall, we found that IDA was generally more toxic at high concentrations or extended durations of exposure. At the same time, IDA can increase the content of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and decrease the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) in cells, and increase the content of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the medium. Network analysis showed that the apoptosis signaling pathway was activated; specifically, the caspase family was involved in the signal pathway. The results of the TUNEL assay, qRT-PCR, ELISA, and Western blot found that IDA can activate apoptotic factors. The mechanism may be related to the activation of apoptosis signaling pathway. These results indicate that the cardiotoxic effects of IDA are most likely associated with oxidative stress and ROS formation, which finally ends in apoptotic factors’ activation and induction of cell apoptosis.

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