Abstract
There has been growing interest in naturally occurring compounds with anti-cancer potential. Boswellic acid fractions (BA) are the bioactive constituent of the oleogum resin of Boswellia carterii Birdwood (Bursearceae). It has been shown to exert anti-neoplastic and anti-inflammatory effects. The antitumor activity molecular pathways of BA action are not clear. Nevertheless, BA is known to induce apoptosis by p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways in cancer cell lines. Growth inhibition is associated with induction of cellcycle arrest. In this study, the anticancer effect of BA in human HepG-2 cancercells line was investigated. BA has exhibited effective cell growth inhibition by inducing cancer cells to undergo G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis. Blockade of cell cycle was associated with increased levels of p21. BA treatment triggered the apoptotic pathway indicated by a change in caspase-8 and caspase-3 activation. We also found that, BAinduced cell growth inhibition as a result of increase in the expression level of p53. These results confirm a critical role of p53 in BAinduced G2/M arrest and apoptosis of human hepatoma cancer cells.
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