Abstract
The cytotoxic substance of A. chinense saponins (ACSs) was isolated using ethanol extraction and purified with the D101 macroporous adsorption resin approach. We investigated the anticancer activity of ACSs in the B16 melanoma and 4T1 breast carcinoma cell lines. Methylthioninium chloride and hematoxylin-eosin staining with Giemsa dyestuff were used when the cells were treated with ACSs. The results showed that the cells morphologies changed significantly; ACSs induced cell death in B16 and 4T1 cells based on acridine orange/ethidium bromide double fluorescence staining, with the number and degree of apoptotic tumor cells increasing as ACS concentration increased. ACSs inhibited the proliferation of B16 and 4T1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. They also inhibited cell migration and colony formation and exhibited a concentration-dependent effect. In addition, ACSs apparently inhibited the growth of melanoma in vivo. The preliminary antitumor in vivo assay revealed that early medication positively affected tumor inhibition action and effectively protected the liver and spleen of C57 BL/6 mice from injury. This study provides evidence for the cytotoxicity of ACSs and a strong foundation for further research to establish the theoretical basis for cell death and help in the design and development of new anticancer drugs.
Highlights
Patients with cancer generally undergo surgical therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a combination of these treatments
Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM), fetal bovine serum (FBS), 2 mmol/L l-glutamine, 100 U/mL penicillin, and 100 mg/mL streptomycin were purchased from Gibco Life Technologies (Grand Island, USA)
Acridine orange (AO), ethidium bromide (EB), dimethyl sulfoxide, trypan blue, trypsin, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid were purchased from Beijing Dingguo Changsheng Biotech Co., LTD. (China)
Summary
Patients with cancer generally undergo surgical therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a combination of these treatments. Recent research has shown that the use of herbal remedies for cancer treatment resulted in fewer or diminished side effects induced by Western medicine, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and a longer survival period for many patients [8, 9]. Hepatocellular carcinoma has been shown to become smaller without severe side effects after treatment with herbal medicine [10]. These reports strongly suggest that herbal medicine remedies would be good candidates for the treatment of several types of cancer, the mechanisms by which they could improve the clinical status, including cancer metastasis, of cancer patients remain unclear
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