Coronarin D suppresses proliferation, invasion and migration of glioma cells via activating JNK signaling pathway

Coronarin D (CD) is one of the primary components of the Hedychium coronarium rhizomes and possesses strong anticancer effects via preventing cell growth in many cancer cells. The study was aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying effects of CD on proliferation, invasion and migration of gliomas cells. Gliomas cell lines U251 was employed for detecting cells viability and proliferation by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and colony formation assay. In addition, scratch wound healing and transwell assays were performed for the analysis of U251 cells invasion and migration respectively. Furthermore, the expression of p-Akt/Akt, p-p38/p38, p-ERK/ERK, p-JNK/JNK, p-STAT3/STAT3, cyclinE, cyclinD1, CTGF, MMP-2 and MMP-9 were measured by Western blotting. CD could suppress proliferation, invasion and migration of glioma cells and induced reduction of cyclinE, cyclinD1, CTGF, MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression via activating JNK signaling pathway. CD treatment suppressed expression of p-AKT, p38, and ERK and elevated expression of p-JNK in concentration- and time-dependent manners. Moreover, CD significantly induced reduction of phosphorylated STAT3 expression. Exposure of cells to the JNK-specific inhibitor SP600125 reduced the cytotoxicity effects of CD, combination of CD and SP600125 corrected overexpression of phosphorylated JNK and reduction of phosphorylated STAT3. Pretreatment of SP600125 also improves gliomas cells viability and invasion. The results revealed that CD may remarkably suppress gliomas cell growth through JNK and STAT3 signaling. In present study, these findings revealed that CD induces suppression of cell viability in gliomas cells and possesses therapeutic effect on gliomas.