In Vitro Growth Inhibition of U87 Glioblastoma Cells by N-(2- Hydroxy Phenyl) Acetamide

Despite the variety of modern therapies against glioblastoma, it is still a deadly disease with extremely poor prognosis. Patients have a median survival of approximately 12 to 15 months. The development of new therapeutic strategies for the management of gliomas is therefore crucial. The present study evaluates the therapeutic potentials of synthetic compound NA-2 in the treatment of GBM. Growth inhibitory effect of NA-2 on human glioblastoma cell line U87 was determined microscopically and by MTT assay. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay. The RT-PCR was used to determine the mRNA level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia inducible factor- 1 alpha (HIF- 1α). Whereas protein level of VEGF is determined by ELISA. NA-2 significantly inhibits the growth of glioblastoma cells in a dose dependent manner (P < 0.01). Additionally it also significantly down regulates the expression of VEGF and HIF- 1α (P < 0.05). Our finding suggests that NA-2 possesses strong growth inhibitory activity which may in part be due to its ability to decrease expression levels of VEGF and HIF-1α.