Icariside II is considered one of the most important natural
flavonoids with multiple bioactivities from
traditional Chinese medicine Yin Yanghuo (YYH) or Horny Goat Weed (Epimedium koreanum Nakai). Previous studies show that
Icariside II exhibits potent cytotoxicity against a broad spectrum of human
cancer cells through various signaling transduction pathways. However, there are few reports about the effect of
Icariside II on
osteosarcoma cell. In this study, we found that
Icariside II decreased cell proliferation in human
osteosarcoma MG-63 cells and human
osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells. In addition,
Icariside II inactivated EGFR/mTOR signaling pathway, including EGFR, PI3K/AKT/PRAS40, Raf/
MEK/ERK as well as mTOR. Furthermore,
Icariside II inhibited
epidermal growth factor (
EGF)-induced activation of EGFR/mTOR signaling pathway. Pretreatment of
EGF partially reversed cell viability decreased by
Icariside II. Importantly,
Icariside II inhibited the proliferation of transplantable
tumors and EGFR/mTOR signaling pathway in sarcoma-180 bearing mice. In summary, these results indicate that
Icariside II inhibits the proliferation of
osteosarcoma cells in vitro and in vivo via EGFR/mTOR signaling pathway.