Biological evaluation and molecular docking of Rhein as a multi-targeted radiotherapy sensitization agent of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract Radiation resistance of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a joint effect caused by complex molecular mechanisms. The development of multi-target radiotherapy sensitization agents offered a promising method for the treatment of NPC. In this work, the probability of Rhein to be a multi-target radiotherapy sensitization agent was explored through computer aid virtual screening by inverse docking study. In order to validate the accuracy of the computational results, radiotherapy sensitization of Rhein to NPC cells and its effects on the expression of target proteins were evaluated separately by CCK8 assay and Western blotting analysis. Our result demonstrated that Rhein possessed strong binding affinity with RAC1 and HSP90. No cytotoxic concentration of Rhein had radiosensitization effect on nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE1 cells. After treatment with Rhein and 2Gy radiation, the expression of RAC1 upregulated and the expression of HSP90 down-regulated in cells. Based on the above data, Rhein is likely to become an attractive lead compound for the future design of multi-target radiotherapy sensitization agents.