MK615 inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth by dual inhibition of Aurora A and B kinases

AIM：To investigate the anti-neoplastic effect of MK615, an anti-neoplastic compound isolated from Japanese apricot, against human pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. METHODS： Three human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1, PK-1, and PK45H were cultured with MK615 at concentrations of 600, 300, 150, and 0 μg/mL. Growth inhibition was evaluated by cell proliferation assay, and killing activity was determined by lactate dehydrogenase （LDH） assay. Expression of Aurora A and B kinases was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction （PCR） and Western blotting. Cell cycle stages were evaluated by flow cytometry. RESULTS： The growth inhibitory rates of MK615 at 150, 300, and 600 μg/mL were 2.3% ± 0.9%, 8.9% ± 3.2% and 67.1% ± 8.1% on PANC1 cells, 1.3% ± 0.3%, 8.7% ± 4.1% and 45.7 ± 7.6% on PK1 cells, and 1.2 ± 0.8%, 9.1% ± 2.1% and 52.1% ± 5.5% on PK45H cells, respectively （P 〈0.05）. The percentage cytotoxicities of MK615 at 0, 150, 300, and 600 μg/mL were 19.6% ± 1.3%, 26.7% ± 1.8%, 25.5% ± 0.9% and 26.4% ± 0.9% in PANC1 cells, 19.7% ± 1.3%, 24.7% ± 0.8%, 25.9% ± 0.9% and 29.9% ± 1.1% in PK1 cells, and 28.0% ± 0.9%, 31.2% ± 0.9%, 30.4% ± 1.1% and 35.3 ± 1.0% in PK45H cells, respectively （P 〈 0.05）. Real-time PCR and Western blotting showed that MK615 dually inhibited the expression of Aurora A and B kinases. Cell cycle analysis revealed that MK615 increased the population of cells in G2/M phase. CONCLUSION： MK615 exerts an anti-neoplastic effect on human pancreatic cancer cells in vitro by dual inhibition of Aurora A and B kinases.