Sulforaphene Enhances The Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy In Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Through Ras/RAF/MEK/ERK Pathway Suppression

Sulforaphene (SFE), a natural isothiocyanate from cruciferous vegetables has shown a potential anticancer effect against cervical and lung cancer. Palliative treatments like photodynamic therapy (PDT) are being implemented for a long time however, the results are still not promising in case of aggressive cancers like anaplastic thyroid cancer. The objective of this work is to establish an alternative method with the combination of photofrin-PDT and sulforaphene, a natural isothiocyanate from cruciferous vegetables, against human anaplastic thyroid cancer to enhance the efficacy of PDT. In this study, cell viability of FRO cells due to combination treatment was analyzed by MIT assay, Cell cycle arrest, MMP depolarization and ROS generation, analyzed by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis of various proliferative proteins was performed to assess the activity of combination treatment against FRO cells. From the results, sulforaphene alone showed no cytotoxicity against normal cells, however, combination of sulforaphene and photofrin mediated PDT showed a noticeable decrease in cell proliferation against FRO cells. Combination treatment synergistically caused cell cycle arrest via ROS generation and MMP depolarization. The expressions of Ras, MEK, ERK, B-Raf proteins significantly modulated due to combination treatment. PDT and SFE can induce apoptosis in anaplastic thyroid cancer cells individually but while treated in combination, it enhanced the apoptotic and anti-proliferative effect, much higher than the individual doses. In summary, our work designates sulforaphene as a unique natural enhancer of efficacy with PDT against anaplastic thyroid cancer.