Elemene Injection Induced Autophagy Protects Human Hepatoma Cancer Cells from Starvation and Undergoing Apoptosis

Elemene, a compound found in an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine, has shown promising anticancer effects against a broad spectrum of tumors. In an in vivo experiment, we found that apatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that selectively inhibits VEGFR2, combined with elemene injection (Ele) for the treatment of H22 solid tumor in mice resulted in worse effectiveness than apatinib alone. Moreover, Ele could protect HepG2 cells from death induced by serum-free starvation. Further data on the mechanism study revealed that Ele induced protective autophagy and prevented human hepatoma cancer cells from undergoing apoptosis. Proapoptosis effect of Ele was enhanced when proautophagy effect was inhibited by hydroxychloroquine. Above all, Ele has the effect of protecting cancer cells from death either in apatinib induced nutrient deficient environment or in serum-free induced starvation. A combination of elemene injection with autophagy inhibitor might thus be a useful therapeutic option for hepatocellular carcinoma.