Synergistic Anti-glioma Effects in Vitro and in Vivo of Enediyne Antibiotic Neocarzinostatin and Paclitaxel via Enhanced Growth Delay and Apoptosis-Induction.

Neocarzinostatin (NCS) is a member of enediyne antibiotics with high anticancer potential. Our study was performed to explore the synergistic anti-glioma effects of NCS and paclitaxel (PTX) in vitro and in vivo. By 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, the cytotoxicities of the drugs to human glioma cells U87MG and rat glioma cells C6 were evaluated. The results showed that the combinations of NCS and PTX can synergistically inhibit glioma cells survival. Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, and the results showed that the combinations of NCS and PTX synergistically enhanced apoptosis ratio of glioma cells. Western blot revealed that the cell signaling pathways of proliferation and apoptosis were synergistically regulated, in which Akt was synergistically inactivated, p53 was up-regulated with down-regulation of bcl-2. Meanwhile, with the subcutaneous model of U87MG cells and intracerebral implantation model of C6 cells, the combination strategy could synergistically delay the glioma growth and significantly prolong the survival of rats bearing orthotopic glioma. This study demonstrates that the combination of NCS and PTX can potentiate the effect on survival and apoptosis of glioma cells via suppression of Akt, bcl-2, and activations of p53; Meanwhile, the in vivo studies also confirmed that the combination of NCS and PTX synergistically inhibit the gliom growth. Our data about the combinational effects of NCS with PTX may provide an alternative strategy for glioma therapy.