Cardamonin inhibits the growth of human osteosarcoma cells through activating P38 and JNK signaling pathway

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of bone malignant tumors. Clinical commonly used therapeutic drugs of OS treatment are prone to toxic and side effects, so it is very urgent to develop new drugs with low toxicity and low side effects. As a Chinese herbal medicine, Cardamonin (CAR) (C16H14O4) has inhibitory effects in various tumors. In the present study, we investigated the effects of CAR on OS cells in vitro and in vivo. We found that CAR inhibited cell proliferation, reduced migration, decreased invasion, and induced G2 / M arrest of OS cells. Notably, we demonstrated that CAR had no obvious effect on proliferation and apoptosis of normal cells. Besides, CAR repressed tumor growth of OS cells in xenograft mouse model. Mechanically, we found that CAR increased the phosphorylation level of P38 and JNK. In summary, our research validates that CAR may inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of OS and promote apoptosis possibly by activating P38 and JNK Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway.