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Pharmacognosy 2019
March 11-12, 2019
London, UK
American Journal of Ethnomedicine
ISSN: 2348-9502
Page 59
Pharmacognosy and
Medicinal Plants
7
th
Edition of International Conference on
Am J Ethnomed 2019, Volume 6
DOI: 10.21767/2348-9502-C1-009
Cuban propolis and nemorosone in combination with
chemotherapeutic agents induce a synergistic cytotoxic
effect in drug-resistant human colon carcinoma cells
Y Frión-Herrera, D Gabbia
and
M Carrara
University of Padova, Italy
P
ropolis is a resinous product collected by honeybees
from the buds and exudates of various plant sources.
This natural product has been used empirically as a
traditional remedy in folk medicine for centuries. Several
studies have confirmed that propolis mono-therapy
can inhibit the growth of different carcinoma cells due
to its chemical composition. At present, there are few
studies about the possible use of this natural product in
the treatment of chemo-resistant tumors. Combination
experiments were carried out in order to study the ability
of Cuban propolis extracts (CP) and nemorosone, its
main phytocomponent, to increase the antiproliferative
efficacy of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapic drugs
doxorubicin (Dox) and oxaliplatin (Oxa) in human colon
carcinoma cells (LoVo), doxorubicin resistant cells (LoVo
Dox) and oxaliplatin resistant cells (LoVo Oxa). The
effects of combination therapy were investigated in vitro,
evaluating cell viability at 24, 48 and 72 hrs byMTTassay.
Synergism/additivity/antagonism effect was assessed
by isobologram/combination index analysis. Molecular
mechanism of combination treatment was examined
assessingLDHrelease,Annexin/PIassay,ROSproduction,
mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) disturbance
and ATP intracellular levels. Our results revealed that
combination treatment resulted in a significantly
synergistic antiproliferative and cytotoxic effect at 72
hrs with respect to monotherapy, in particular in drug-
resistant cell lines. Furthermore, combined treatment
induced apoptosis cell death with a marked disruption
of ΔΨm, decrease in ATP production and induction of
ROS. These findings indicate that combination of CP
or nemorosone with classical chemotherapic drugs
may represent an intriguing treatment option for drug-
resistant human colon carcinoma.