Chemotherapy has always been one of the most effective ways in combating human
glioma. However, the high metastatic potential and resistance toward standard
chemotherapy severely hindered the
chemotherapy outcomes. Hence, searching effective
chemotherapy drugs and clarifying its mechanism are of great significance.
Salinomycin an
antibiotic shows novel anticancer potential against several human
tumors, including human
glioma, but its mechanism against human
glioma cells has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, we demonstrated that
salinomycin treatment time- and dose-dependently inhibited U251 and U87 cells growth. Mechanically,
salinomycin-induced cell growth inhibition against human
glioma was mainly achieved by induction of G1-phase arrest via triggering reactive
oxide species (ROS)-mediated DNA damage, as convinced by the activation of
histone, p53, p21 and p27. Furthermore, inhibition of ROS accumulation effectively attenuated
salinomycin-induced DNA damage and G1 cell cycle arrest, and eventually reversed
salinomycin-induced cytotoxicity. Importantly,
salinomycin treatment also significantly inhibited the U251
tumor xenograft growth in vivo through triggering DNA damage-mediated cell cycle arrest with involvement of inhibiting cell proliferation and angiogenesis. The results above validated the potential of
salinomycin-based
chemotherapy against human
glioma.