Pinocembrin inhibits the proliferation and migration and promotes the apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells through down-regulating the mRNA levels of N-cadherin and GABAB receptor.

There is no previous study on the effect of pinocembrin on ovarian cancer to the best of our knowledge. Moreover, the effects of pinocembrin on the expression of GABAB1 and GABAB2 genes are not studied before. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate effects of pinocembrin on the growth of ovarian cancer cells and the expression of cadherin and GABAB receptor to explore whether pinocembrin was helpful in the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer. SKOV3 cells were divided into six groups: Control (blank control), DDP (cisplatin as positive control; cells were incubated with 15 μg/ml DDP), 25 μM (cells were incubated with 25 μM pinocembrin), 50 μM (cells were incubated with 50 μM pinocembrin), 100 μM (cells were incubated with 100 μM pinocembrin), and 200 μM (cells were incubated with 200 μM pinocembrin). CCK8 assay, cell scratch assay and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining found that when pinocembrin concentration reached 100 μM and the treatment time reached 48 h, pinocembrin could inhibit the cell proliferation and migration and promote the cell apoptosis, and this effect was enhanced with the increase of pinocembrin concentration. Western blotting found that the protein expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, GABAB1 and GABAB2 was not significantly affected by pinocembrin. RT-PCR found that pinocembrin also had no significant influence on the E-cadherin mRNA level, but it could reduce the mRNA levels of N-cadherin, GABAB1 and GABAB2. In conclusion, pinocembrin inhibited the proliferation and migration and promoted the apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells through down-regulating the mRNA levels of N-cadherin and GABAB receptor.