Effects of Atorvastatin combined with Gefitinib on proliferation, metastatic and autophagy of Colorectal cancer cells

Abstract

Abstract Background: : Colorectal cancer is one of the common malignant tumors with high incidence. At present, compared with traditional chemotherapy drugs with large adverse reactions and new drugs that are difficult to develop, reusing existing drugs and finding new applications has become a major new research direction in cancer treatment. Methods:CCK8 method was used to detect the change of the inhibitory proliferation activity of Atorvastatin, Gefitinib and their combination on SW480 and HCT116 cells, the invasive activity of SW480 and HCT116 cells was detected by Transwell assay, the expression of autophagy signal pathway related proteins in SW480 cells was detected by Western blotting, and the effect of Atorvastatin, Gefitinib and their combination on tumor formation in mice was detected by in vivo xenograft. Results: Atorvastatin and Gefitinib inhibit the proliferation and metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. They can promote the autophagy of colorectal cancer cells by affecting autophagy-related proteins. The combined inhibitory effect of both drugs is enhanced compared to a single drug. In vivo tumorigenesis experiments also support these results. Conclusions:The combined of atorvastatin and gefitinib can inhibit the proliferation and metastasis of colorectal cancer cancer cells by promoting autophagy. Its mechanism of action is the synergistic inhibition of autophagy-related signaling pathways. It provides new research ideas for the treatment of cancer.