[Retracted] Ferruginol exhibits anticancer effects in OVCAR­3 human ovary cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, inhibition of cancer cell migration and G2/M phase cell cycle arrest.

Following the publication of the above paper, an interested reader drew to our attention that a number of apparent anomalies existed with the data presented in a couple of the figures in the above paper. Specifically, there appeared to be strikingly similar and duplicated patternings of cells within the cellular images featured in Figs. 3 and 4, which showed apoptotic induction as evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and TEM evaluation of ferruginol­induced apoptosis in OVCAR­3 human ovary cancer cells, respectively. Following an internal enquiry, the Editor of Molecular Medicine Reports has been able to verify the claims made by the interested reader; therefore, in view of the potential anomalies that have been identified and owing to a lack of overall confidence in the presented data, the Editorial Board have decided to retract the above paper from the publication. After having passed on this decision to the authors, they were in agreement that the paper should be retracted. The Editor apologizes to the readership of the Journal for any inconvenience caused. [the original article was published in Molecular Medicine Reports 16: 7013­7017, 2017; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2017.7484].

L-Tetrahydropalmatine enhances the sensitivity of human ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin via microRNA-93/PTEN/Akt cascade.

PURPOSE: Το evaluate the effect of L-Tetrahydropalmatine (L-THP) on the sensitivity of a cisplatin resistant ovarian cancer (OC) cell line. As miR-93 is reported to be overexpressed in OC and cisplatin resistance, we also evaluated its pathway in OC. METHODS: The levels of miR-93 were evaluated using RT-PCR and Luciferase assay was performed to confirm the target of miR-93. The extent of apoptosis was evaluated by Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) staining, whereas Hoechst 33258 staining was done for identifying the number of apoptotic cells. RESULTS: The cisplatin-resistant A2780/DDP cell line showed lower survival rate compared to control when incubated with L-THP along with cisplatin. L-THP caused G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and increased the sensitivity to cisplatin. Furthermore, we found that the levels of miR-93 in cisplatin-resistant cells were highly expressed compared to parental cells. L-THP suppressed the expression of miR-93 and increased the levels of PTEN, a crucial tumor suppressor in OC. It was further observed that the cells transfected with PTEN siRNA showed increased survival compared with the control group and this phenomenon could be reversed by the AKT inhibitor Triciribine. The A2780 cells treated with PTEN siRNA showed similar survival rate to the cells with miR-93 overexpression. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggested L-THP increased the sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin via modulating miR-93/PTEN/AKT pathway in A2780/DDP ovarian cancer cell line.

Ferruginol exhibits anticancer effects in OVCAR­3 human ovary cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, inhibition of cancer cell migration and G2/M phase cell cycle arrest.

The primary aim of the current study was to investigate the antitumor effects of ferruginol in OVCAR­3 human ovary cancer cells. The effects of ferruginol on cell apoptosis, cell migration and cell cycle phase distribution were also evaluated. Cell cytotoxicity induced by ferruginol was determined by an MTT assay, while fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were performed to investigate apoptotic effects. Flow cytometry was employed to determine the effects of ferruginol on the cell cycle and an in vitro wound healing assay was performed to investigate effects on cancer cell migration. The results indicated that ferruginol inhibited the growth rate of OVACR­3 cells in a dose­ and time­dependent manner. When cells were treated with 20, 80 and 300 µM ferruginol, cells began to exhibit yellow fluorescence, which indicated the onset of apoptosis. TEM results demonstrated that untreated control cells exhibited intact nuclei and nucleolus. However, on treating cells with various doses of ferruginol, chromatin condensation occurred and disappearance of the nuclear envelope and formation of apoptotic bodies were also observed. The percentage of migrated cells, determined by the wound healing assay, decreased from 98.7% in control to 68.2% and 45.3 in 80 and 300 µM ferruginol­treated cells, respectively. Flow cytometry results demonstrated that ferruginol induced G2/M cell cycle arrest in OVCAR­3 cells. In conclusion, ferruginol may exhibit anticancer effects in OVCAR­3 human ovary cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, inhibiting cancer cell migration and inducing G2/M cell and may therefore prove beneficial in the treatment and management of ovarian cancer.