A preliminary study on the synthetic lethal effect of berberine and olaparib on pancreatic cancer cells and its mechanism

Pancreatic cancer is a kind of malignant tumor with high mortality rate. Early operation and late chemoradiotherapy are the treatment criteria, but prognosis still poor. Berberine, an alkaloid compound present in many herbal plants, capable inducing oxidative DNA damage downregulating homologous recombination repair (HRR) cells. Poly (ADP ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) sensor key roles repair. In this study, we demonstrated that berberine PARP inhibitor olaparib have synthetic lethal effect on pancreatic The expression level RAD51 were reduced by berberine. Correspondingly, became hyperactivated response to treatment. When combined olaparib, Rad51 Parp inhibited. combination synergistically inhibit cell activity induce apoptosis. addition, synergistic can be reversed apoptosis necrosis inhibitor. Together, results indicate