감귤 돌연변이체의 인간 암세포 증식 억제와 자연사멸 증강효과

Abstract

Citrus mutant fruits were induced by irradiation of citrus budsticks with 120 Gy of cobalt ( 60 CO) gamma irradiation. The citrus mutant inhibited the growth and induced apoptosis in various human cancer cells, including A549, HepG2, HCT116, MCF-7, and Hela. The results of a trypan blue exclusion assay showed that citrus mutant fruits exhibited excellent antiproliferation activity in various human cancer cells and low cytotoxicity in normal 16HBE140and CHANG cells. In addition, the cell death induced by the citrus mutant fruits was associated with an increased population of cells in sub-G1 phase, and it caused DNA fragmentation in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 and hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. It also up-regulated the amount of cellular nitric oxide (NO • ) produced as a result of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activation and suppressed the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family in A549 and HepG2 cells. These findings indicate that the citrus mutant fruits activates the NO • -mediated apoptotic pathway in A549 and HepG2 cells. It may merit further investigation as a potential chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive agent for the treatment of various types of cancer cells. The results provide important major new insights into the mechanisms of the anticancer activity of citrus mutant fruits.