Schinifoline is a quinolone derivative extracted from Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb with cytotoxic activity that promotes radiosensitization of cancer cells, affects the cell cycle and apoptosis.

This work aimed to investigate the radiosensitizing effect of Schinifoline (SF) on A549 cells. The cell viability results indicated cytotoxicity of SF on A549 cells, with IC50 values of 33.7 ± 2.4, 21.9 ± 1.9 and 16.8 ± 2.2 μg/mL, respectively, after 6, 12, 24 h treatment with different concentrations, and the 10% or 20% IC50 concentration during 12 h was applied in later experiments. The results of cell proliferative inhibition and clonogenic assay showed that SF enhanced the radiosensitivity of A549 cells when applied before 60Co γ-irradiation and this effect was mainly time and concentration dependent. The flow cytometric data indicated that SF treatment before the irradiation increased the G2/M phase, thus improving the radiosensitivity of A549, leading to cell apoptosis.[1]