Ovarian cancer patients often have poor prognosis, therefore, it is important to search for more effective therapeutic strategies to treat them. Gambogic acid (GA) exhibits an anti-tumor effect through various mechanisms, and has multiple targets in tumor cells. The present study aimed to elucidate the efficacy of GA in the treatment of ovarian cancer both in vivo and in vitro by analyzing its impact on cell survival and tumor growth through cell cycle and apoptosis analysis. GA inhibited the growth of ovarian cancer cells in a dose and time dependent manner, and arrested the cell cycle in ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, GA increased caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity and inhibited RELA/NF-κB p65 (p65) DNA binding activity. Finally, GA suppressed tumor growth in vivo. Therefore, the current study suggests that GA inhibits the growth of ovarian cancer by regulating p65 activity, and may be developed as a novel therapeutic strategy to treat ovarian cancer.
Keywords: anti-tumor activity; gambogic acid; ovarian cancer; p65 activity; tumor proliferation.