The role of anesthetics in the treatment of cancer has been reported, but the role of Dexmedetomidine (Dex) in the treatment of cervical cancer (CC) has not been reported.In this study, cell viability and proliferation were determined by MTT and cloning formation assay. The expression
of proliferation-related proteins ki67 and PCNA was detected by western blot. Wound healing and transwell detected cell migration and invasion, and western blot detected the expression of migration and invasion related proteins MMP4 and MMP9, and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (ETM)-related
proteins N-cadherin, Snail, Vimentin and E-cadherin. Western blot also detected the expression of pathway related proteins p-JAK2, p-STAT1, p-STAT3, JAK2, STAT1 and STAT3. It showed that Dex inhibited the cell viability and proliferation of Hela and siHa and the expression of ki67 and PCNA
were also inhibited. Dex inhibited the cell migration and invasion, and inhibited the expression of MMP4 and MMP9. In addition, Dex inhibited the expression of N-cadherin, Snail and Vimentin, and promoted the expression of E-cadherin. Dex inhibited the expression of p-JAK2, p-STAT1 and p-STAT3.
After the addition of JAK/STAT signaling pathway agonist IL-6, the inhibition of Dex on proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells was reversed. And the addition of JAK/STAT signaling pathway inhibitor AG490 could counteract the excitatory effect of IL-6 on the pathway, at which time
the cell proliferation, invasion and migration were significantly increased. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that Dex inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of cells in CC by blocking the JAK/STAT signaling pathway.