Rotenone restrains the proliferation, motility and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of colon cancer cells and the tumorigenesis in nude mice via PI3K/AKT pathway.

Rotenone, a toxic rotenoid compound, has anti-tumor effects on several cancers. This study aims to clarify the effect of rotenone on the proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration of colon cancer cells and tumorigenesis in nude mice. The present results showed that rotenone significantly inhibited the proliferation, promoted the apoptosis, and suppressed the invasion and migration of colon cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Rotenone inhibited PI3K/AKT pathway in LoVo and SW480 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, rotenone regulated the proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration and EMT of LoVo and SW480 cells through PI3K/AKT pathway. In colon cancer xenograft mice, rotenone inhibited tumor volume and weight in nude mice, inhibited PI3K/AKT pathway and EMT in vivo. Therefore, rotenone inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration, promoted the apoptosis of colon cancer cells through PI3K/AKT pathway in vitro, and suppressed the tumorigenesis in nude mice in vivo.