Reversine, a substituted purine, exerts an inhibitive effect on human renal carcinoma cells via induction of cell apoptosis and polyploidy

BACKGROUND: Human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer that arises from the renal epithelium. Up to 33.3% of RCC patients treated with local tumor resections will subsequently develop recurrence or metastases. Thus, optimized therapeutic regimes are urgently needed to improve the prognosis of RCC. Reversine was recently reported to exert critical roles in cancer therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study evaluated the anti-tumor effects of reversine on cell viability, colony formation, apoptosis, and cell cycle in 786-O and ACHN cell lines. RESULTS: It was demonstrated that reversine significantly inhibited the proliferation of both cell lines in time- and dose-dependent manners. Polyploidy formation was observed under high-concentration reversine treatment. In addition, reversine induced cell death via caspase-dependent apoptotic pathways, which could be partially inhibited by Z-VAD-FMK, a pan-caspase inhibitor. CONCLUSION: Reversine could effectively suppress the proliferation of human RCC cells, and may serve as a novel therapeutic regimen for RCC in clinical practice.