Triptolide sensitizes cisplatin-resistant human epithelial ovarian cancer by inhibiting the phosphorylation of AKT.

Advanced and chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer causes high mortality of ovarian cancer, and it is important to find safe and effective drugs to reduce the chemotherapeutic resistance of ovarian cancer. In our study, we attempted to clarify the resistance mechanisms of SKOV3/DDP cells and evaluated the sensitization to triptolide (TPL) . Our results indicated that the overexpression of AKT and p-AKT greatly enhanced the cisplatin (DDP) tolerance of SKOV3/DDP, and the combination of DDP+TPL had a significant tumour inhibition effect compared to DDP treatment (p<0.05), via reducing the expressions of p-PI3K, p-Akt, Survivin, VEGF and MMP-2, and the increase of Caspase-3. Collectively, these results suggest that the synergistic anticancer effect of TPL and DDP warrants their potential clinical applications in further.