Induction of apoptosis by oridonin in nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma cells

Abstract Nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) is one of the major subtypes of pituitary adenomas (PA) and its primary treatment is surgical resection. However, normal surgery fails to remove lesions completely and there remains in lack of frontline treatment, so the development of new drugs for NFPA is no doubt urgent. Oridonin (ORI) has been reported to have antitumor effects on a variety of tumors, but whether it could exhibit the same effect on NFPA requires to be further investigated. The effects of ORI on pituitary‐derived folliculostellate cell line (PDFS) cell viability, colony formation, proliferation ability, migration, and invasion were examined by Cell Counting Kit‐8, colony formation assay, 5‑Ethynyl‑2'‑deoxyuridine proliferation assay, wound‐healing assay, and Transwell assay. The differentially expressed genes in the control and ORI‐treated groups were screened by transcriptome sequencing analysis and analyzed by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment. Cell cycle analysis was performed to detect changes in cell cycle. Annexin V‐fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining was performed to detect apoptosis in ORI‐treated cells. Western blot assay was performed to detect Bax, Bcl‐2, and cleaved Caspase‐3 protein expression. ORI inhibited PDFS cell viability and significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. GO and KEGG results showed that ORI was associated with signaling pathways such as cell cycle and apoptosis in PDFS cells. In addition, ORI blocked cells in G2/M phase and induced apoptosis in PDFS cells. ORI can trigger cell cycle disruption and apoptosis collaboratively in PDFS cells, making it a promising and effective agent for NFPA therapy.