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Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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Original Communications

Feasibility Evaluation of Emodin (Rhubarb Extract) as an Inhibitor of Pancreatic Cancer Cell Proliferation In Vitro

Jun Cai, MD, Anthony Razzak, BS, Justin Hering, MD, Abdul Saed, MD, Tricia A. Babcock, MS, Scott Helton, MD and N. Joseph Espat, MD, MS, FACS

From the Department of Surgery, The University of Illinois at Chicago.

Address correspondence to: N. Joseph Espat, MD, MS, FACS, Roger Williams Medical Center, 825 Chalkstone Avenue, Prior 4, Providence, RI 02908; e-mail: jespat{at}hepaticsurgery.com.

Emodin is a commonly used traditional herbal treatment in China, including use for pancreatic malignancy. In this study, the potential for emodin to inhibit pancreatic cancer cell proliferation was examined using 4 human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines: Mia Paca-2, BxPC-3, Panc-1, and L3.6pl. WST-1 proliferation, propidium iodide flow cytometry cell cycle analysis, and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) Western blot analysis were performed. Forty-eight-hour treatment with 50 µM emodin inhibited proliferation in Mia Paca-2 cells by 42%, BxPc-3 by 38%, L3.6pl by 56%, and Panc-1 by 18% (all P < .01). In three-fourths of the cell lines, emodin treatment resulted in an increase (from 4.7% to 22%) in the cell population number in apoptosis when measured by flow cytometric analysis. Mia Paca-2 revealed a significant PARP cleavage product when compared with control. These feasibility experiments provide initial evidence that emodin exerts an antiproliferative effect, likely through apoptosis induction-related mechanism(s), that is reproducible in various human pancreatic cancer cell lines.

Key Words: emodin • pancreatic cancer • cellular proliferation • apoptosis

Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, Vol. 32, No. 2, 190-196 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0148607108314371
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