Studies on the non-invasive anticancer remedy of the triple combination of epigallocatechin gallate, pulsed electric field, and ultrasound

Cancer is one of the most troublesome diseases and a leading cause of death worldwide. Recently, novel treatments have been continuously developed to improve the disadvantages of conventional therapies, such as prodigious expenses, unwanted side effects, and tumor recurrence. Here, we provide the fi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-08, Vol.13 (8), p.e0201920-e0201920
Main Authors: Hsieh, Chih-Hsiung, Lu, Chueh-Hsuan, Kuo, Yu-Yi, Chen, Wei-Ting, Chao, Chih-Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AKT protein
Anticancer properties
Antineoplastic agents
Apoptosis
Applied physics
Autophagy
Biology and Life Sciences
Biomedical engineering
Cancer
Cancer therapies
Catechin
Cavitation
Cell death
Cell proliferation
Chemotherapy
Costs
Cytotoxicity
Diagnosis
Dosage and administration
Drug delivery systems
Drug therapy
Electric field strength
Electric fields
Engineering
Epidermal growth factor
Epigallocatechin gallate
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate
Gangrene
Green tea
Health physics
Inhibitors
Medical research
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Oxidative stress
Oxygen
Pancreatic cancer
Patient outcomes
Phagocytosis
Phosphorylation
Physical Sciences
Reactive oxygen species
Research and analysis methods
Side effects
Signal transduction
Tea
Toxicity
Ultrasonic imaging
Ultrasound
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cancer is one of the most troublesome diseases and a leading cause of death worldwide. Recently, novel treatments have been continuously developed to improve the disadvantages of conventional therapies, such as prodigious expenses, unwanted side effects, and tumor recurrence. Here, we provide the first non-invasive treatment that has combined epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechin in green tea, with a low strength pulsed electric field (PEF) and a low energy ultrasound (US). It has been observed that the cell viability of human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 was decreased approximately to 20% of the control after this combination treatment for 72 h. Besides, the combined triple treatment significantly reduced the high tolerance of HepG2 cells to the EGCG-induced cytotoxicity and similarly exhibited compelling proliferation-inhibitory effects. We also found the combined triple treatment increased the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and acidic vesicles, and the EGCG-induced inhibition of Akt phosphorylation was dramatically intensified. In this study, the apoptosis inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK and the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA were, respectively, shown to attenuate the anticancer effects of the triple treatment. This indicates that the triple treatment-induced autophagy was switched from cytoprotective to cytotoxic, and hence, cooperatively caused cell death with the apoptosis. Since the EGCG is easily accessible from the green tea and mild for a long-term treatment, and the non-invasive physical stimulations could be modified to focus on a specific location, this combined triple treatment may serve as a promising strategy for anticancer therapy.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0201920