FIG. 7.

Capsaicin treatment suppresses pancreatic tumor growth by inhibiting Trx and activating ASK1. About 1×10⁶ AsPC-1 cells were injected subcutaneously on right flanks of each athymic nude mouse in phosphate-buffered saline/Matrigel suspension. When tumors reached 70 mm³ in size, mice were randomly divided into two groups with 10 mice in each group. Mice were fed with 5 mg capsaicin/kg body weight everyday by oral gavage. Control mice received vehicle only. Tumors were measured by vernier calipers three times a week. Each mouse was weighed twice a week. Effect of capsaicin on the (A) tumor volume, (B) tumor weight and (C) body weight was evaluated. (D) Excised tumors were frozen and stained with 10 μM DHE to measure superoxide levels and 2 μM of DCFDA to measure hydrogen peroxide levels in the tumors. Results are representative of three independent experiments (E) Tumor lysates from control and capsaicin-treated nude mice were immunoblotted and analyzed for Trx, p-ASK1 (Thr845), ASK1, p-MKK-7 (Ser271/Thr275), Cl-caspase-3, and Cl-PARP. The blots were stripped and reprobed for actin to ensure equal protein loading. Right-side diagram shows the quantitation of tumor western blots. Values are means±SD of 5 samples. *p<0.05 statistically significant when compared with control. (To see this illustration in color the reader is referred to the web version of this article at www.liebertpub.com/ars).