Purvalanol A induces apoptosis and reverses cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer

Cisplatin (DDP) resistance limits therapeutic efficacy in patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Purvalanol A (Pur) is a novel cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor that has been demonstrated to induce apoptosis in various cancer cells. The present study investigated the effect of the combination treatment of Pur and DDP, and the potential anticancer mechanisms in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells in vitro and in vivo. We found that Pur enhanced the anti-tumor efficacy of cisplatin in EOC cells. The combination of Pur and DDP had more significant effects on apoptosis induction in EOC cells compared with the individual-treatment groups and the control group. We further demonstrated that the combination of Pur and DDP may trigger apoptosis and autophagy in EOC cells by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS). And the ROS/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway as a potential mechanism for the initiation of autophagy induced by combination therapy. Similar results were observed in vivo. These results demonstrated that Pur sensitized the response of EOC cells to cisplatin in vitro and in vivo, reversing the resistance to cisplatin in ovarian cancer.