Urinary bladder cancer treatment by artemisinin and its combination with cisplatin exhibit a potent anti-cancer effect in male albino mice

Urinary bladder cancer is the 10th most common cancer type worldwide. Where, about 600.000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer globally and more than 200.000 people die from this disease every year. So, the aim of this study is to investigate and examine the efficiency of artemisinin as cancer treatment alone and in combination with cisplatin on urinary bladder cancer induced by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) in male albino mice. Biochemical analysis (creatinine and urea functions), hematological markers (HB, PLT, RBCs and WBCs counts), histopathological examinations (kidney and bladder tissues), and gene expression levels of oncogenes (FGFR3 and HRAS) and tumor suppressor genes (P53 and KDM6A) were studied in the urinary bladder cancer bearing-mice. The results demonstrated that creatinine, urea, HB, PLT, RBC and WBC were significantly improved after treatment with artemisinin individually and in combination with cisplatin. In kidney tissues, artemisinin combined with cisplatin significantly decreased renal damage caused by cisplatin. While in bladder tissues, artemisinin displayed a significant anti-cancer effect on mice urinary bladder cancer, and this efficiency could be increased by combination with cisplatin. In this study, the results also demonstrated that FGFR3 and HRAS genes expression levels showed down-regulating, while, P53 and KDM6A genes expression levels were up-regulating as a result of artemisinin treatment in mice urinary bladder cancer. We can declare that artemisinin exhibits a significant anticancer effect on urinary bladder cancer, and this value can be upgraded by combination with cisplatin.