China Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ›› 2016, Vol. 14 ›› Issue (3): 213-217.

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of simvastatin on proliferation and apoptosis of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma SACC-83 cells and survivin expression

CAI Wen-yan1, YAN Fei1, DONG Jing1, SUN Jin-hu1, 2   

  1. 1. School of Stomatology, Xuzhou Medical College. Xuzhou 221004; 2. Department of Stomatology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College. Xuzhou 221004, Jiangsu Province, China
  • Received:2015-11-16 Online:2016-06-20 Published:2016-07-04

Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of simvastatin on proliferation, apoptosis and expression of survivin in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma SACC-83 cells. METHODS: SACC-83 cells were cultured in vitro and exposed to different concentrations of simvastatin (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 μmol/L) for 24h and 48h, respectively. Cell survival rate was calculated with CCK-8 assay and the OD values were calculated. Colony formation of SACC-83 cells was observed following a 10-day of exposure to different concentrations of simvastatin. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined by flow cytometry following annexin-V/Pl staining. At the same time, expression of survivin protein was quantitatively analyzed by Western blotting. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and repeated measurement design using SPSS 13.0 software package. RESULTS: At the concentration of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 μmol/L, CCK-8 method showed that simvastatin could inhibit the proliferation of SACC-83 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. After treatment with simvastatin for 48 h, the IC50 value was 26.27 μmol/L. Simvastatin significantly suppressed the colonization of SACC-83 cell in a dose-dependent manner. Flow cytometry indicated that simvastatin over 10μmol/L increased the cell populations of both the early apoptotic and late apoptotic cells in a dose dependent manner. Simvastatin at 10, 30 and 50 μmol/L resulted in apoptotic percentages of (21.43±5.43)%, (42.8±10.08)%, and (67.97±12.5)%, respectively at 48h of exposure. In addition, simvastatin down-regulated survivin in SACC-83 cells whereas survivin was over-expressed in the untreated SACC-83 cells. The difference was significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Simvastatin can significantly inhibit proliferation of SACC-83 cells and induce apoptosis, as indicated by lower-expression of survivin, which suggests that survivin might serve as a novel target in the therapy for salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma.

Key words: Simvastatin, Salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma, Proliferation, Apoptosis, Survivin

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