Tanshinone IIA effects on ovarian cancer cell line

Objectives: To explore the potential therapeutic effect of Tanshinone IIA against ovarian Cancer in vitro and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism.

Methods: The cell survival upon Tanshinone IIA treatment was determined by the clonogenic assay. Cell Apoptosis was analysed by Annexin V/propidium iodide double staining. The cleaved Caspase-3/poly ADP-ribose polymerase and apoptosis-related factors were quantified by Western blotting. The relative expression of MicroRNAs (miRs) was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Key findings: Tanshinone IIA treatment induced significant Apoptosis in TOV-21G cells. Tanshinone suppressed Survivin expression while not affected Bax, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. We further predicted and experimentally confirmed overexpression of miR-205 in TOV-21G, which ectopic significantly inhibited Survivin and promoted cell Apoptosis. miR-205-specific antagonist completely abrogated the cell suppressive effect of Tanshinone IIA.

Conclusions: Our data suggested that Tanshinone IIA induced cell Apoptosis in ovarian carcinoma TOV-21G cells via direct upregulation of miR-205. Our study highlighted the potential therapeutic application of Tanshinone IIA against ovarian malignancy.