Evaluation of the effect of Chrysin and Caffeic acid phenethyl ester on eIF4E expression in AGS cell line

The Ras/Akt/mTORC1 signal transduction pathways play a critical role in regulating translation and converge on initiation factor eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) which is overexpressed in various malignancies. In the current study we aimed to assess the effect of chrysin and caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on eIF4E expression level in human stomach cancer AGS cell line. AGS cells were treated with 15, 20, 30 and 40 μM concentration of chrysin and CAPE separately, then eIF4E expression was evaluated in treated cells using real time-PCR method. A significant decrease in eIF4E expression in the cells following 40 μM chrysin treatment was observed (p<0.05). There was a significant decrease in CAPE-treated cells in a dose dependent manner. Indeed the cells treated with 30 and 40 μM concentrations of CAPE, showed a significant decline in eIF4E expression (p<0.05). Our results suggest that CAPE and chrysin may be useful as a potential therapeutic agent for treatment of gastric cancers with an elevated eIF4E expression level.