Corn silk crude polysaccharide exerts anti-pancreatic cancer activity by blocking the EGFR/PI3K/AKT/CREB signaling pathway

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal and malignant solid tumor. Treatments for pancreatic cancer are seriously limited because it is highly drug-resistant and immunosuppressive. Hence, it is urgent to explore novel approaches for anti-pancreatic cancer therapy. In this study, we show that S1, a crude polysaccharide from corn silk, may significantly inhibit pancreatic cancer cell proliferationin vitroandin vivo. Further studies reveal that S1 can induce pancreatic cancer cell apoptosis, arrest the cell cycle in S phase and impede pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion. Moreover, S1 may block the EGFR/PI3K/AKT/CREB signaling pathway to exert its anti-pancreatic cancer activity. However, S1 has almost no toxicity eitherin vitroorin vivo. These results provide evidence that S1 is a new functional food component that can be developed to fight pancreatic cancer.