Antineoplastic effect of the flavonoid quercetin in a Kaposi´s sarcoma cellular model

LEZCANO, V; PRINCIPE, G; TAPIA, C; MORELLI, S; GONZÁLEZ PARDO, V

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXXVI Reunión Científica Anual de la Asociación Argentina de Osteología y Metabolismo Mineral; 2019

Quercetin (QUE) is a flavonoid present in a wide variety of foods with different biological and pharmacological effects such as antitumor activity. Kaposi?s sarcoma (KS) is a malignant Herpesvirus-induced tumor characterized by angiogenesis and proliferation of cells with characteristics of activated endothelial cells. In this work we studied the antineoplastic effect of QUE and the modulation of ERK1/2, AKT and Wnt/β-catenin signaling in a KS cellular model. Tumor cells were treated with QUE at different concentrations (1-50μM) for 24 and 48h. Crystal violet staining revealed that QUE significantly decreases cell proliferation in a dose and time dependent manner: 77.8±5.1% 20μM vs. C and 85.7±7.5% 50μM vs. C (24h); 66.4±6.3% 10μM vs. C, 55.9±2% 20μM vs. C and 50.8±7.3 50μM vs. C (48h). In concordance, representative images showed an increase of cells with apoptotic characteristics. MTS assay demonstrated a significant decrease in cell viability at highest doses of QUE (84.4±7.1% 20μM vs. C; 86±6.9% 50μM vs. C) at 24h and (63.7±7% 10μM vs. C; 43.3±5.7% 20μM vs. C; 34.3±7% vs. C) 48h. Under the same experimental conditions, phosphorylated ERK1/2 and AKT were analyzed by Western blot (WB) revealing an increment in their phosphorylation levels in a dose dependent way after 24h of QUE. Since Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway play an important role in tumor development and is activated in KS, β-catenin protein levels were also analyzed by WB showing an increment of its expression from 5μM of QUE. Altogether, these results demonstrate an antitumor effect of QUE on KS cellular model, accompanied by ERK1/2 and AKT activation and an increase in β-catenin expression, a key protein of Wnt signaling pathway.