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  2. Celecoxib and Afatinib synergistic enhance radiotherapy sensitivity on human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells

Celecoxib and Afatinib synergistic enhance radiotherapy sensitivity on human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells

  • Int J Radiat Biol. 2021;97(2):170-178. doi: 10.1080/09553002.2021.1846817.
Pan Zhang 1 Erqun Song 1 Mingdong Jiang 2 Yang Song 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Luminescence Analysis and Molecular Sensing, Ministry of Education, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
  • 2 Department of Radiation Oncology, The Ninth People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
Abstract

Purpose: Radioresistance is highly correlated with radiotherapy failure in clinical Cancer treatment. In the current study, we sought to examine the efficacy of Celecoxib and Afatinib co-treatment as radiosensitizers in the management of non-small cell lung Cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells.

Materials and methods: Generally, A549 cells were cultured with the treatment of Celecoxib and/or Afatinib for 24 h. Then, the cells were exposed to irradiation at 2 Gy/min for 1 min. After the end of treatment, cell viability, clonogenic survival, Apoptosis and Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) Elisa assays were performed. Transcriptional levels of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) affected by Celecoxib and/or Afatinib were measured by RT-qPCR. Posttranscriptional level of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-related gene was measured by Western blotting analysis.

Results: Here, we, for the first time, reported that the co-treatment of Celecoxib and Afatinib regulates the resistance of NSCLC A549 cells to radiation. The co-treatment of Celecoxib and Afatinib sensitized radiotherapy through the radiation-induced loss of cell viability and colony formation, as well as Apoptosis. Mechanistically, Celecoxib and Afatinib-treated cells showed the inhibition of COX-2 and EGFR expression, which may be responsible for the A549 cells' increased resistance to radiation.

Conclusion: Our results suggested that Celecoxib and Afatinib regulate cell sensitivity to Apoptosis, and thus modulate the resistance of NSCLC to radiation.

Keywords

Afatinib; Celecoxib; lung cancer; radiosensitizer; radiotherapy.

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