Lycium barbarum polysaccharide induced apoptosis and inhibited proliferation in infantile hemangioma endothelial cells via down-regulation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

Abstract

Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) has a variety of pharmacological and biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidation, anti-apoptosis, immune regulation and other pharmacological effects; however, the effect of LBP on infantile hemangioma (IH) was less reported. Primary human hemangioma endothelial cells (HemECs) were isolated from fresh surgical specimens of patients. HemECs was treated with LBP and the changes in proliferative and apoptotic signaling pathways were investigated by performing cell counting kit-8, cloning formation experiment, in vitro angiogenesis experiment, flow cytometry, Western blot, immunofluorescence, HE stain and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We found that LBP potently inhibited the proliferation of HemECs and achieved a low-micromolar IC50 (45 and 40 μg/ml, the half maximal inhibitory concentration) value and less angiogenesis, however, the IC50 had no effect on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) viability. LBP treatment induced apoptosis in HemECs, which was supported by positive Annexin-V-FITC staining, the activation of cleaved caspase-3 and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) and the inhibition of B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 (Bcl-2). Moreover, the result demonstrated that LBP suppressed the expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Ki67, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), VEGFR2 and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signal pathway. PI3K-specific agonist (IGF-1) had promotive effects on HemECs proliferation, which was reversed by LBP. Our study suggests that the effectiveness of LBP in IHs may be associated with its potent anti-proliferative and apoptotic activities in HemECs. Thus, our findings may provide an effective medicine for IHs treatment.

Targeting ESM1 via SOX4 promotes the progression of infantile hemangioma through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

“…Recent studies have con rmed the signi cant involvement of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in the occurrence and development of IH [52][53][54]. In our study, we discovered that SOX4 can promote the expression of key proteins within the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, thereby facilitating the progression of IH.…”

Lycium barbarum polysaccharides ameliorate LPS‐induced inflammation of RAW264.7 cells and modify the behavioral score of peritonitis mice

“…Lycium barbarum is a famous Chinese herbal medicine in China (Li et al, 2020), with neuroprotective activity, immune regulation, antiaging effects, antitumor effects, and the ability to improve gastrointestinal function (Li et al, 2007;Lou et al, 2019;Potterat, 2010;Wang et al, 2020). L. barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) is the main component extracted from L. barbarum, which has many pharmacological activities such as antioxidation, immunomodulation, anti-tumor, neuroprotection, treatment of diabetes, and liver protection (Chang & So, 2008;Tian et al, 2019).…”

Gou Qi Zi inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis through the PI3K/AKT1 signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer

“…Therefore, inhibition of PI3K signaling is considered a very promising approach to the treatment of these diseases and a major target for drug development ( 84 ). LBP, one of the most important compounds of LB, was found to inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of infantile hemangioma endothelial cells by downregulating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway ( 85 ). Although the ability of LB to affect the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in NSCLC was unclear, the present study indicated that LB inhibited this pathway, especially downregulating the levels of AKT1 phosphorylation, consistent with the results PPI clustering analysis.…”