Abstract
The antiproliferative properties and cell death mechanism induced by the extract of the fruits of Luffa echinata Roxb. (LER) were investigated. The methanolic extract of LER inhibited the proliferation of human colon cancer cells (HT-29) in both dose-dependent and time-dependent manners and caused a significant increase in the population of apoptotic cells. In addition, obvious shrinkage and destruction of the monolayer were observed in LER-treated cells, but not in untreated cells. Analysis of the cell cycle after treatment of HT-29 cells with various concentrations indicated that LER extracts inhibited the cellular proliferation of HT-29 cells via G2/M phase arrest of the cell cycle. The Reactive oxygen species (ROS) level determination revealed that LER extracts induced apoptotic cell death via ROS generation. In addition, LER treatment led to a rapid drop in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) as a decrease in fluorescence. The transcripts of several apoptosis-related genes were investigated by RT-PCR analysis. The caspase-3 transcripts of HT-29 cells significantly accumulated and the level of Bcl-XL mRNA was decreased after treatment with LER extract. Furthermore, the ratio of mitochondria-dependent apoptosis genes (Bax and Bcl-2) was sharply increased from 1.6 to 54.1. These experiments suggest that LER has anticancer properties via inducing the apoptosis in colon cancer cells, which provided the impetus for further studies on the therapeutic potential of LER against human colon carcinoma.
Highlights
Cancer is a serious clinical problem that poses enormous personal, clinical, and societal challenges to the healthcare system
Luffa echinata Roxb. (LER) Inhibits the Proliferation of HT-29 Cells
Cultured HepG2 and HT-29 cells were treated with LER extracts for 24 h at the concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 μg/mL, respectively
Summary
Cancer is a serious clinical problem that poses enormous personal, clinical, and societal challenges to the healthcare system. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in both males and females and accounts for about 9% of cancer deaths each year. In 2008, 1.23 million new cases of colorectal cancer were clinically diagnosed, and it killed 608,000 people [1]. A number of anti-cancer drugs have been isolated from plants [3,4,5]. There is an urgent need for new therapeutic agents for CRC patients. As a physiological mode of cell death, is an intrinsic program and a key regulator of tissue homeostasis [6]. The imbalances between cell death and proliferation may result in tumor formation [7]. The objective of anti-cancer agent is to induce apoptosis-related signaling in cancer cells while disrupting their proliferation [8]
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