Sildenafil Induces Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Human Colorectal Cancer HT-29 Cells

• Wu-Ming Qin

  Department of Cell Biology & Institute of Biomedicine, National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China

• Kun Wang

  Department of Cell Biology & Institute of Biomedicine, National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China

• Jia-Rong Huang

  Department of Cell Biology & Institute of Biomedicine, National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China

• Xiao-Long Mei

  Department of Cell Biology & Institute of Biomedicine, National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China

• Zhi Shi

  Department of Cell Biology & Institute of Biomedicine, National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China

Phosphodiesterase is an enzyme that degrades the phosphodiester bond in the second messenger molecules cAMP and cGMP, and regulates the localization, duration, and amplitude of cyclic nucleotide signaling within subcellular domains. Sildenafil is a potent and selective inhibitor of the type 5 cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase used clinically to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. In this study, we examined the effect of sildenafil on human colorectal cancer HT-29 cells. Our data showed that sildenafil induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and cotreatment with a ROS scavenger N-acetyl-L-cysteine partially reversed cell apoptosis caused by sildenafil in human colorectal cancer HT-29 cells. Overall, our study suggests that sildenafil appears to be a promising new treatment option for colorectal cancer.

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