Fig. 1

Itraconazole inhibits the growth of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.a Decrease in viability of gastric cancer cells (AGS and MKN45) following treatment with increasing concentrations of itraconazole. Cell viability was measured by the CCK-8 assay. Data represent the mean of three experiments (mean ± SD). *p < 0.05; **P <0.01 vs DMSO-treated cells. ITRA, itraconazole. b Repression of colony formation of gastric cancer cells following treatment with different concentrations of itraconazole. AGS and MKN45 cells, treated with itraconazole, were grown in a 6-well plate and colonies were scored after 14 days. Cell clusters containing more than 50 cells under a microscope were considered as colonies. Histograms show the formation rate of colonies. Data represent the mean of three experiments (mean ± SD). *P <0.05 and **P <0.01, vs DMSO treated cells. c Itraconazole enhances the inhibitory effect of 5-FU on gastric cancer cells. AGS and MKN45 cells were treated with 10 μM itraconazole, 10 μM 5-FU or both. Data represent the average of three experiments (mean ± SD). *P <0.05 and **P <0.01 vs DMSO-treated cells. d Itraconazole inhibits growth of gastric cancer xenografts. Nude mice with AGS subcutaneous tumor xenografts were treated with vehicle (n = 8), itraconazole 75 mg/kg twice daily by oral administration (ITRA; n = 8), 5-FU 20 mg/kg every 2 days by intraperitoneal injection (n = 8), or a combination of itraconazole and 5-FU (ITRA + 5-FU; n = 6). Nude mice with MKN45 subcutaneous tumor xenografts were treated with vehicle (n = 10), itraconazole 75 mg/kg twice daily by oral administration, 5-FU 20 mg/kg every 2 days by intraperitoneal injection (n = 8), or a combination of itraconazole and 5-FU (ITRA + 5-FU; n = 8). Mean ± SD tumor volumes are reported for each treatment group