Dietary crocin is protective in pancreatic cancer while reducing radiation-induced hepatic oxidative damage

Hamid A. Bakshi, Mazhar S.Al Zoubi, Hakkim L. Faruck, Alaa A.A. Aljabali, Firas A. Rabi, Amin A. Hafiz, Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh, Bahaa Al-Trad, Prawej Ansari, Mohamed M. Nasef, Nitin B. Charbe, Saurabh Satija, Meenu Mehta, Vijay Mishra, Gaurav Gupta, Salem Abobaker, Poonam Negi, Ibrahim M. Azzouz, Ashref Ali K. Dardouri, Harish DurejaParteek Prasher, Dinesh K. Chellappan, Kamal Dua, Mateus Webba Da Silva, Mohamed El Tanani, Paul A. McCarron, Murtaza M. Tambuwala

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one of the fatal causes of global cancer-related deaths. Although surgery and chemotherapy are standard treatment options, post-treatment outcomes often end in a poor prognosis. In the present study, we investigated anti-pancreatic cancer and amelioration of radiation-induced oxidative damage by crocin. Crocin is a carotenoid isolated from the dietary herb saffron, a prospect for novel leads as an anti-cancer agent. Crocin significantly reduced cell viability of BXPC3 and Capan-2 by triggering caspase signaling via the downregulation of Bcl-2. It modulated the expression of cell cycle signaling proteins P53, P21, P27, CDK2, c-MYC, Cyt-c and P38. Concomitantly, crocin treatment-induced apoptosis by inducing the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol. Microarray analysis of the expression signature of genes induced by crocin showed a substantial number of genes involved in cell signaling pathways and checkpoints (723) are significantly affected by crocin. In mice bearing pancreatic tumors, crocin significantly reduced tumor burden without a change in body weight. Additionally, it showed significant protection against radiation-induced hepatic oxidative damage, reduced the levels of hepatic toxicity and preserved liver morphology. These findings indicate that crocin has a potential role in the treatment, prevention and management of pancreatic cancer.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1901
Pages (from-to)1-19
Number of pages19
JournalNutrients
Volume12
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Apoptosis
  • Cell cycle
  • Crocin
  • Hepatic injury
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Radiation

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