Antitumor activity of emodin against pancreatic cancer depends on its dual role: promotion of apoptosis and suppression of angiogenesis.

Background: Emodin has been showed to induce apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells and inhibit tumor growth in our previous studies. This study was designed to investigate whether emodin could inhibit the angiogenesis of pancreatic cancer tissues and its mechanism.

Methodology/principal Finding: In accordance with our previous study, emodin inhibited pancreatic cancer cell growth, induced apoptosis, and enhanced the anti-tumor effect of gemcitabine on pancreatic caner cells in vitro and in vivo by inhibiting the activity of NF-κB. Here, for the first time, we demonstrated that emodin inhibited tumor angiogenesis in vitro and in implanted pancreatic cancer tissues, decreased the expression of angiogenesis-associated factors (NF-κB and its regulated factors VEGF, MMP-2, MMP-9, and eNOS), and reduced eNOS phosphorylation, as evidenced by both immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis of implanted tumors. In addition, we found that emodin had no effect on VEGFR expression in vivo.

Conclusions/significance: Our results suggested that emodin has potential anti-tumor effect on pancreatic cancer via its dual role in the promotion of apoptosis and suppression of angiogenesis, probably through regulating the expression of NF-κB and NF-κB-regulated angiogenesis-associated factors.