Abstract
Pluchea indica is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of lumbago, ulcer, tuberculosis and inflammation. The anti-cancer activities and the underlying molecular mechanisms of the ethanolic extracts of P. indica root (PIRE) were characterized in the present study. PIRE strongly inhibited the viability of the human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells (NPC-TW 01 and NPC-TW 04) in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Migration of cancer cells was also suppressed by PIRE. In addition, PIRE significantly increased the occurrence of the cells in sub-G1 phase and the extent of DNA fragmentation in a dose-dependent manner, which indicates that PIRE significantly increased apoptosis in NPC cells. The apoptotic process triggered by PIRE involved up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax protein and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein, consequently increasing the ratios of Bax/Bcl-2 protein levels. Moreover, the p53 protein was up-regulated by PIRE in a concentration-dependent manner. Therefore, PIRE could induce the apoptosis-signaling pathway in NPC cells by activation of p53 and by regulation of apoptosis-related proteins.
Highlights
While nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an uncommon form of head and neck cancer in most parts of the world [1], a high incidence is found among the Inuit of Alaska, native Greenlanders and the southern Chinese population of Guangdong [2,3]
Part of the beneficial effects of herbal extracts is due to their having a wide variety of biologically active phytochemicals, including phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, alkaloids, nitrogen-containing compounds, as well as organosulfur compounds, all of which have been shown to suppress multiple molecular events related to carcinogenesis [19,20]
Many reports have demonstrated that P. indica possesses important pharmacological activities; none has studied the effect on NPC
Summary
While nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an uncommon form of head and neck cancer in most parts of the world [1], a high incidence is found among the Inuit of Alaska, native Greenlanders and the southern Chinese population of Guangdong [2,3]. Even with a combined chemo-radiation treatment, survival rates for patients with metastatic NPC remain poor, with a very high recurrence rate of up to 82% [9]. It is important to develop new drugs that are effective for the treatment of NPC. Pluchea indica (L.) Less is a well-known medicinal plant that grows naturally in litoral areas of tropical regions It could be found in countries such as India, Myanmar, China, Philippines, Malaysia and Australia. There is no information regarding the anti-cancer effect of the ethanol extract of P. indica in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The anti-cancer effect of ethanol extracts of PIRE was investigated and the molecular mechanism of PIRE-induced cell death in two human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells lines, NPC-TW.
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