Abstract:

Purpose: This study aims to study the anti-cancer effect of boric acid through endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis in human pancreas cancer MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells. Tools and Methods: The impact of boric acid on the vitality of pancreas cancer cells and the IC50 value is calculated using the XTT test and CompuSyn version 1.0 software. The expression of apoptotic, anti-apoptotic and ER stress-related genes is determined. The impact of boric acid on the capability of these cells to colonial formation is assessed by colonial formation test. The findings: Boric acid, depending on time and dose, also suppressed the cell vitality in both cell lines. The XTT test found that the doses of boric acid IC50 in MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells were 15707,5 and 14248,8 μM respectively. In both cell lines, boric acid has also been observed to significantly increase the expression of BAX, CASP3, CASP8, CYCS and FAS from apoptosis-related genes. In PANC-1 cells, the expression of CASP9 and FADD genes has increased significantly. In both cell lines, boric acid has also been shown to statistically significantly increase the expression of ATF4, HSP47 and XBP1 genes associated with ER stress. Furthermore, boric acid treatment has significantly increased ATF6, CHOP and EIF2A expression in PANC-1 cells only. In MIA PaCa-2 cells, boric acid has resulted in statistically increased GRP78 gen expression. The colonial formation test results showed that both cell lines of boric acid and colonial formation capabilities were significantly under pressure. The result: Boric acid has reduced cell vitality and colony formation in both human pancreas cancer cells and has changed the expression of the genes associated with apoptosis and ER stress. These findings show the anti-cancer effect of boric acid in human pancreatic cancer cells by ER stress and apoptosis.