Research progress on synergistic attenuation of berberine on doxorubicin and its mechanism

Doxorubicin is frequently used in chemotherapy due to its potent anticancer efficacy. However, the clinical use of doxorubicin has been largely restricted because of its cumulative cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. Berberine is a botanical alkaloid purified from Coptis Salisb. Increasing studies reveal that berberine possesses a broad spectrum of bioactivity and pharmacological actions, including antidiarrheal, antifungal, antidiabetic, and antitumor effects. Currently researches have shown that berberine could induce the apoptosis of tumor cells so as to enhance doxorubicin antitumor activity. Furthermore, berberine attenuates doxorubicin- induced cardiac myocyte apoptosis. In addition, berberine could decrease the hepatotoxicity caused by doxorubicin. The synergistic attenuation and its mechanism of berberine on doxorubicin are reported currently in this paper. These findings offer a novel therapeutic method, and have clinical significance of doxorubicin treatment.