Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF DIPHENHYDRAMINE AGAINST PANCREATIC CANCER BY STIMULATING CELL CYCLE ARREST, APOPTOSIS, AND MODULATION OF PI3K/Akt/mTOR PATHWAY

RUI ZHANG 1, MIN CHEN 2, LEI YU 1, ZHAOHUI JIN 1*

1Department of Pharmacy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041, Chengdu, China
2Department of Gastroenterology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041, Chengdu, China

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Each year, there is a high mortality rate due to pancreatic cancer. Thus, the current study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of diphenhydramine (DPH) against pancreatic cancer cells (PANC-1). Results suggested that DPH inhibits the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells together with the loss of cellular morphology and induction of apoptosis in a dosedependent manner. The DPH increases the cells in the S-phase, while, few cells showed to experience apoptosis as recommended by the presence of sub-G0/G1 peak. As evidenced by Western blot, DPH causes the decline in Bcl-2 and enhancement of the Bax expression together with inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling cascade. DPH appears to inhibit the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells and may prove beneficial in the management of pancreatic cancer.