Ribociclib, a selective cyclin D kinase 4/6 inhibitor, inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of human cervical cancer in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

Cervical cancer remains one of the main factors leading to tumor-related death worldwide. Many strategies of cancer treatment such as chemotherapy are developed and used nowadays. However, for the cancer chemotherapy resistance, reduction of the limitation of cancer chemotherapy efficacy is one of the aims of several oncology teams. Moreover, the cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6-cyclin D-retinoblastoma protein-E2F pathway is an important mechanism for cell cycle control and its dysregulation is one of the key factors for cancers development including cervical cancer. Ribociclib is one of the selective CDK4/6 inhibitors and is a new therapeutic approach showing promise as a good strategy of therapy in many human cancers. However, there are not the studies regarding the investigation of effects of Ribociclib in cervical cancer yet. In the present study, by western blotting and immunofluorescence assay, we found respectively that CDK4, CDK6 and cyclin D1 are highly expressed and are mostly localized in the nucleus with some localized in the cytoplasm of cervical cancer cell lines. Moreover, Ribociclib induced cell cycle arrest in G0-G1 phase and cell apoptosis, and inhibited C33A cell proliferation in dose - dependent manner following by decreased expression of certain related genes such as CDK4, CDK6, E2F1, P-Rb, and increased Bax expression. In C33A xenografts, Ribociclib inhibited tumor growth associated with decreased expressions of CDK4, CDK6, cyclin D1, Rb and Ki-67, and also significantly increased tumor cell apoptosis. However, we didn't find side effect of Ribociclib concerning heart, liver and kidney perturbation and any Ribociclib anti-tumor effects on HeLa in vitro and in vivo which may be due to Hela cell infection by HPV. Based on our findings, the Rb-E2F pathway can be considered as an important factor in human cervical cancer pathogenesis and as a mechanism of Ribociclib, a potential strategy of treatment for the improvement of new therapeutic measures for the treatment of HPV-negative cervical cancer which application for HPV-positive cervical cancer is desired in further study.

Keywords: CDK4; CDK6; Cell apoptosis; Cell cycle; Cervical cancer; Ribociclib.