Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To investigate the correlation between Kanglaite injection(KLTi) enhancing the efficacy of gemcitabine(GEM) against pancreatic cancer and its enhancement of GEM accumulation in tumor cells.
METHODS A UPLC-MS/MS method was established to detect the content of GEM and its metabolite 2’,2’-difluoro-2’-deoxyuridine(dFdU) in pancreatic cancer cells. The inhibitory effect of KLTi combined with GEM on the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells was evaluated by MTS assay. The half inhibitory concentration(IC50) of GEM under different treatment conditions and the synergistic effect index of the two drugs were calculated to explore the correlation between the content of intracellular GEM and its inactive metabolite dFdU and IC50.
RESULTS The UPLC-MS/MS method for the detection of intracellular GEM and dFdU was successfully established. Compared with GEM alone, the combination of KLTi and GEM significantly increased the content of GEM in pancreatic cancer cells. When pancreatic cancer cells were treated with GEM alone, the intracellular GEM content decreased with the time, while the combination of KLTi and GEM significantly increased the intracellular GEM content. MTS assay showed that the IC50 value of the combination group was significantly lower than that of the GEM alone group.
CONCLUSION KLTi can enhance the killing effect of GEM on pancreatic cancer by significantly increasing the intracellular accumulation of GEM.