As2O3 has been reported to induce apoptosis and inhibit the proliferation of various human
cancer cells. We evaluated the ability of a novel
arsenic compound,
As4O6, along with
As2O3 in vitro and in vivo. To examine the levels of apoptosis of HPV 16-positive SiHa
cervical cancer cell, flow cytometry and Western blotting were employed at various time intervals after two
arsenic compound treatments. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) was applied to investigate the differential cell death pathway of
As4O6 and
As2O3. The results showed that
As4O6 was more effective in suppressing SiHa cell growth in vitro and in vivo compared to
As2O3. In addition, the cell cycle was arrested at the sub-G1 phase by
As4O6. Western blot analysis showed that the
proliferating cell nuclear antigen (
PCNA) and Bcl-XL with sequence homology to Bcl-2 were significantly suppressed by
As4O6. However, the apoptosis-related
proteins such as p21 and Bax were overexpressed by
As4O6. IPA suggested that there is a significant difference between As2O3- and As4O6-induced cell death pathways. Taken together,
As4O6 has a specific cell death pathway and possesses more potent anti-
tumor effects on human
cervical cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.