nifuroxazide and Colorectal-Neoplasms

Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is the one of the most common cancers with considerable metastatic potential, explaining the need for new drug candidates that inhibit tumor metastasis. The signal transducers and activators of the transcription 3 (Stat3) signaling pathway has an important role in CRC and has been validated as a promising anticancer target for CRC therapy. In the present study, we report our findings on nifuroxazide, an antidiarrheal agent identified as an inhibitor of Stat3. Our studies showed that nifuroxazide decreased the viability of three CRC cell lines and induced apoptosis of cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, western blot analysis demonstrated that the occurrence of its apoptosis was correlated with the activation of Bax and cleaved caspase-3, and decreased the expression of Bcl-2. In addition, nifuroxazide markedly impaired CRC cell migration and invasion by downregulating phosphorylated-Stat3

Topics: Animals; Apoptosis; Cell Line, Tumor; Colorectal Neoplasms; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Hydroxybenzoates; Mice; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Proteins; Nitrofurans; Signal Transduction; STAT3 Transcription Factor; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays