Agrimoniin is a dual inhibitor of AKT and ERK pathways that inhibit pancreatic cancer cell proliferation

Abstract Molecular‐targeted therapy has shown its effectiveness in pancreatic cancer, while single‐targeted drug often cannot provide long‐term benefit because of drug resistance. Fortunately, multitarget combination therapy can reverse drug resistance and achieve better efficacy. The typical treatment characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine monomer on tumor are multiple targets, with small side effects, low toxicity, and so forth. Agrimoniin has been reported to be effective on some cancers, while the mechanism still needs to be clarified. In this study, we used 5‐ethynyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine, cell counting kit‐8, flow cytometry, and western blot experiments to confirm that agrimoniin can significantly inhibit the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cell PANC‐1 by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. In addition, by using SC79, LY294002 (the agonist or inhibitor of AKT pathway), and U0126 (the inhibitor of ERK pathway), we found that agrimoniin inhibited cell proliferation by simultaneously inhibiting AKT and ERK pathways. Moreover, agrimoniin could significantly increase the inhibitory effect of LY294002 and U0126 on pancreatic cancer cells. Meanwhile, in vivo experiments also supported the above results. In general, agrimoniin is a double‐target inhibitor of AKT and ERK pathways in pancreatic cancer cells; it is expected to be used as a resistance reversal agent of targeted drugs or a synergistic drug of the inhibitor of AKT pathway or ERK pathway.