Study on the chemotherapeutic effect and mechanism of cucurbitacin E on laryngeal cancer stem cells

OBJECTIVES: Study on the chemotherapeutic effect and mechanism of cucurbitacin E (CuE) on laryngeal cancer stem cells. METHODS: We used flow cytometry to sort out CD133(+) laryngeal cancer stem cells; trypan blue rejection assay to detect the survival rate of laryngeal cancer stem cells; Cell counting kit‐8 (CCK‐8) assay to detect the effect of CuE on the proliferation ability of stem cells and the chemotherapeutic potentiation of doxorubicin; Transwell assay to observe the effect of CuE on the migration ability of stem cells; and Western Blot to detect the effect of CuE on the expression level of stem cell‐associated proteins. The tumor volume of nude mice was measured at the end of the experiment, and paraffin sections of nude mice tumor tissues were prepared and stained with Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The expression of c‐MYC in tumor tissues of nude mice was further detected by immunohistochemistry, and the effect of CuE on the expression level of related proteins in tumor tissues of nude mice was detected by Western Blot. RESULTS: CuE reduced the survival rate, proliferation ability, and migration ability of laryngeal cancer stem cells in vitro, and that CuE had a chemotherapeutic potentiating effect on doxorubicin. The possible mechanism of the chemotherapeutic effect of CuE was to reduce the expression of c‐MYC protein, and the possible mechanism of chemotherapy synergy was to reduce the expression of ABCG2 and P‐gp protein. CONCLUSION: CuE has a chemotherapeutic effect on laryngeal cancer stem cells, as well as a chemotherapy synergy.