Dihydroartemisinin increases radiosensitivity of A549 lung cancer cells

Background: radiotherapy is the gold standard in the treatment of lungcancer. however, the radiosensitization of cancerous cells requires furtherimprovement. here, we investigated the effect of dihydroartemisinin (dha)on the radiosensitization of non-small cell lung cancer (nsclc) cells. methods:cell proliferation and cell cycle assays were carried out using a549 cellsexposed to dha. the effect of dha on the radiosensitization of cells wasinvestigated by clonogenic cell survival assay and apoptosis assay. polymerasechain reaction and western blotting were used to quantify gsk-3β level.results: dha significantly inhibited cell proliferation from 24 to 96 h. cellstreated with dha had a significantly decrease g1 phase but significantlyincrease s and g2/m phases compared with untreated and vehicle-treatedcells. the number of viable dha-treated cell colonies was significantly lowerthan that of untreated or vehicle-treated cells. the percentage of earlyapoptotic and necrotic cells was significantly higher for cells exposed to dhaand irradiation. gsk-3β expression was significantly higher in cells exposed todha and irradiation than that in untreated cells, indicating that dha mayenhances the radiosensitization of cells through the activation of gsk-3β.conclusions: our results demonstrate that dha can increase theradiosensitivity of a549 cells, suggested its potential use to sensitize tumorsto radiation therapy in nsclc. the expressions of gsk-3β were induced bydha in cells exposed to irradiation, indicating gsk-3β may paly important rolein the radiosensitization mechanism of dha.