Anacardic acid enhances the proliferation of human ovarian cancer cells

BACKGROUND: Anacardic acid (AA) is a mixture of 2-hydroxy-6-alkylbenzoic acid homologs. Certain antitumor activities of AA have been reported in a variety of cancers. However, the function of AA in ovarian cancer, to date, has remained unknown. METHODS: Ovarian cancer cell lines were exposed to AA, after which cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration assays were performed. Phalloidin staining was used to observe lamellipodia formation. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting were used to assess the mRNA and protein expression levels of Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and caspase 3. RESULTS: Our results showed that AA promotes ovarian cancer cell proliferation, inhibits late apoptosis, and induces cell migration and invasion, as well as lamellipodia formation. AA exposure significantly up-regulated PI3K and VEGF mRNA and protein expression, while, in contrast, it down-regulated caspase 3 mRNA and protein expression in comparison to untreated control cells. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results demonstrate for the first time that AA may potentiate the proliferation, invasion, metastasis and lamellipodia formation in ovarian cancer cell lines via PI3K, VEGF and caspase 3 pathways.