Enterolactone promotes Efficacy of Gemcitabine on Epithelial Ovarian
Cancer and ameliorates Gut dysbacteriosis
Abstract
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a deadly malignant tumor that impacts
the female reproductive system, ranking third in incidence after
cervical and endometrial cancers and first in mortality rate among these
three major tumors. The conventional treatments include chemotherapy,
radiotherapy, and surgery, but their effectiveness is very limited and
their side effects are serious. This situation calls for alternative
therapeutic strategies, such as drug combinations, to enhance treatment
efficacy and at the same time reduce adverse consequences. Previous
research has demonstrated the inhibitory effects of enterolactone (ENL)
on EOC by mechanisms such as inhibiting malignant angiogenesis.
Gemcitabine (Gem) is a chemotherapeutic agent commonly used for the
treatment of EOC. In this study, we aimed to explore the combined
inhibitory effects of ENL and Gem on EOC. We examined the combined
inhibitory effects of ENL and Gem on EOC proliferation, migration, and
invasion, as well as the in vitro and in vivo modulation of the related
proteins AKT/Bax/MMP-9/VEGFR2. We used tube formation and zebrafish
neovascularization assays to assess the anti-angiogenic activity and
established mouse cancer models to assess the hypothesized synergistic
inhibitory effects on EOC between the drugs. ENL and Gem demonstrated
significant synergistic inhibitory effects on cancer cell proliferation,
migration, angiogenesis and AKT/Bax/MMP-9/VEGFR2 modulation. In animal
experiments, the combined use of ENL and Gem also synergistically
inhibited tumor growth and in the meantime markedly reduced the side
effects of Gem. ENL ameliorated gut dysbacteriosis of ovarian cancer
animals, which significantly enhanced the synergistic anti-cancer effect
of ENL and Gem.