Antitumor effect of Kanglaite® injection in human pancreatic cancer xenografts

Background Kanglaite® injection (KLT), with a main ingredient of Coix seed oil (a traditional Chinese medicine), has been widely used for cancer treatment in China. KLT has an inhibitory effect on many kinds of tumors and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling promotes cell survival, proliferation, and progression in cancer cells. Therefore, targeting this pathway may lead to the development of novel therapeutic approaches for human cancers. Methods Here, we examined the effects of KLT on the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in pancreatic cancer xenografts in mice, and assessed its therapeutic potential. Growth and apoptosis of tumor xenografts were examined, and the expression levels of genes and proteins involved in the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway were measured by RT-PCR and western blotting, respectively. Results Our results revealed that KLT dramatically inhibited the growth of pancreatic cancer xenografts and induced apoptosis simultaneously. Furthermore, it downregulated the expression of phospho-Akt and phospho-mTOR. Conclusions These results suggest that KLT can suppress growth and induce apoptosis of pancreatic cancer xenografts. Moreover, KLT can downregulate the expression of phospho-Akt and phospho-mTOR to modulate the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.