Schisandrin B inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in human cholangiocarcinoma cells

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is the second most common hepatic cancer with high resistance to current chemotherapies and extremely poor prognosis. The present study aimed to examine the effects of schisandrin B (Sch B) on CCA cells both in vitro and in vivo and to examine its underlying mechanism. We found that Sch B inhibited the viability and proliferation of CCA cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner as assessed by MTT and colony formation assays. The flow cytometric assay revealed G0/G1 phase arrest in the Sch B-treated HCCC-9810 and RBE cells. In addition, Sch B induced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma apoptosis as shown by the results of Annexin V/PI double staining. Rhodamine 123 staining revealed that Sch B decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanistically, western blot analysis indicated that Sch B induced apoptosis by upregulating Bax, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved PARP, and by downregulating cyclin D1, Bcl-2 and CDK-4. Moreover, Sch B significantly inhibited HCCC-9810 xenograft growth in athymic nude mice. In summary, these findings suggest that Sch B exhibited potent antitumor activities via the induction of CCA apoptosis and that Sch B may be a promising drug for the treatment of CCA.