Synergism of Cytotoxicity Effects of Triptolide and Artesunate in Combination on Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines

Pancreatic cancer is a malignant neoplasm originating from transformed cells arising in pancreas, one of the highest fatality rates of all cancers, extremely poor prognosis and resistant to current chemotherapies, therefore, new strategies or reagents to tackle this disease are needed. Triptolide (TPL) is a diterpenoid triepoxide and the principal active ingredient of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. that has been used as a natural medicine in China for hundreds of years, which has pharmacological and biochemical properties in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as nephritis and rheumatoid arthritis for centuries (Wang et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2013; Hung et al., 2013). Besides, triptolide is able to potently inhibit the growth of human cancer cells in vitro and prevents tumor growth in vivo via inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis (Li et al., 2012; Tao et al., 2012; Chueh et al., 2013). However, triptolide possess both immunosuppressive and antifertility activities through its ability to inhibit the proliferation of both activated monocytes and spermatocytes (Huang et al., 2012; Xiaowen et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2012). Artesunate (ART), is a derivative of artemisinin