Exploring apoptotic pathways in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells: combined effects of napabucasin and doxorubicin.

Background: Neuroblastoma often begins in infancy and one of the most common types of cancer among children is someone. Napabucasin (NP) (BBI608), a natural naphthoquinone emerging as a novel inhibitor of STAT3, has been found to effectively kill cancer stem-like tumor cells. On the other hand, the effect of Napabucasin on SH-SY5Y cells is currently unclear. The effects and mechanisms of NP and doxorubicin (DX) on human metastatic neuroblastoma cells were investigated.

Materials And Methods: In this study, human neuroblastoma cells line (SHSY-5Y) were used. Apoptotic activation of NP and DX via the Bcl-2/Bax signaling pathway was evaluated by qRT-PCR, western blot and Tali cytometry. It was also detected by MTT, a cell viability test.

Results: NP and DX antiproliferative and invasive effected to SH-SY5Y cells. Additionally, NP induced apoptosis by pausing the cell cycle. Moreover, NP treatment inhibited the expression of Bcl-2, which is associated with apoptosis, while it clearly inhibited the expression of Bax and CASP3 genes.

Conclusions: As a results showed that NP and DX suppressed the proliferation of neuroblastoma cells and could do this through apoptotic pathways. NP can be used to suppress metastasis of SHSY-5Y cells as an inhibitor of the apoptosis pathway Bcl-2. It is thought that NP, which provides tumor suppression through an apoptotic mechanism, may be an alternative treatment agent in neurological cancers such as neuroblastoma.