Traditional Herbal Formula NPC01 Exerts Antiangiogenic Effects through Inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR Signaling Pathway in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells

Antiangiogenic therapy is vital in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment. NPC01 has already been successfully used in treating patients with NPC in clinical practice and exerted an excellent antiangiogenetic effect. However, the potential molecular mechanism underlying the antitumor effect of NPC01 has not been well explored. The present study demonstrated that NPC01 could significantly inhibit cell proliferation and induce cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in human NPC cell lines. Furthermore, NPC01 exerted antiproliferative and antiangiogenic effects in NPC xenograft mice. Moreover, the study showed that NPC01 could significantly decrease the expression of angiogenesis-associated factors including hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor. Additionally, the decreased expression of these angiogenesis-associated factors could be due to the inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway (PI3K/Akt/mTOR). In conclusion, the results proposed that NPC01 could exert its antitumor effect by suppressing the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the molecular mechanism.