title: Mini profile of potential anticancer properties of propofol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Propofol (2, 6-diisopropylphenol) is an intravenous sedative-hypnotic agent administered to induce and maintain anesthesia. It has been recently revealed that propofol has anticancer properties including direct and indirect suppression of the viability and proliferation of cancer cells by promoting apoptosis in some cancer cell lines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study aimed to establish a profile to quantitatively and functionally evaluate the anticancer properties of propofol in three cancer cell lines: non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line A549, human colon carcinoma cell line LoVo, and human breast cancer cell line SK-BR-3. We demonstrated that the expression level of caspase-3, an apoptosis biomarker, significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner after 24-h stimulation with 100 µM propofol in A549 cells, and slightly increased in LoVo cells. However, there was no change in caspase-3 expression in SK-BR-3 cells. High caspase-3 expression in A549 cells may be modulated by the ERK1/2 pathway because phosphorylated ERK1/2 dramatically reduced after propofol treatment. BAX, a major protein that promotes apoptosis in the regulation phase, was highly expressed in A549 cells after treatment with 25 µM propofol. Apoptosis induced by propofol may be associated with cancer cells carrying Kras mutations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the anti-cancer effects of propofol, which are consistent with those of previous studies, are likely associated with the Kras mutation status. Only Kras mutation in Codon 12 instead of other Kras status has been demonstrated to play an important role in sensitizing the propofol-induced apoptosis in cancer cell lines from our study. These findings may enable us a detailed investigation of propofol/Kras-mediated cancer cell apoptosis in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Montefiore Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital & Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Yenji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital & Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital & Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Qingquan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lian
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019295:Computational Biology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000187:drug effects; D015742:Propofol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; D053148:Caspase 3; D015742:Propofol