Crocetin induces apoptosis of BGC-823 human gastric cancer cells

Abstract

Abstract. Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common types of gastrointestinal tumors worldwide, and the side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and the resistance to chemotherapy remain problematic in its clinical treatment. Therefore, safe and effective novel agents are urgently required. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the crocetin-sensitive treatment of GC and its possible mechanisms. BGC-823 human GC cells were treated with crocetin. The effects of crocetin on the viability of the cells were determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Hoechst 33258 dyeing and Rh123 staining were used to detect cell apoptosis. The BGC-823 cells were subjected to western blotting analysis for detection of cytochrome c and cleaved caspase-3 protein expression. Crocetin inhibited the proliferation of the GC cell line in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Apoptotic BGC-823 cells induced by crocetin were stained by Hoechst 33258 and observed under a light microscope for cell membrane staining of dense nuclei, nuclear pyknosis, fragmentation, chromatin condensation and highlighted nuclear membrane staining. This revealed a decline in the mitochondrial membrane potential of the BGC-823 cells. Crocetin also induced caspase-3 activation and cytochrome c translocation into the cytosol from the mitochondria. The results of this study indicate that crocetin induces the apoptosis of BGC-823 cells, and may be used as an effective agent in the treatment of GC.

Crocetin suppresses angiogenesis through inhibiting Sonic hedgehog signaling pathway in gastric cancer

“…According to our results, cell proliferation of GC cells was obviously inhibited by crocetin in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly, GC growth in nude mice was also signi cantly inhibited due to subcutaneous injection of crocetin, which was consistent with investigation of Bathaie et al and He et al both showing the anti-proliferative activity of crocetin against GC [39,40]. Additionally, we observed that VM and mosaic vessels formation of GC cells were also signi cantly suppressed by crocetin treatment.…”

CXC195 induces apoptosis and endoplastic reticulum stress in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway

“…Members of the Bcl-2 family (intrinsic or mitochondrial signaling pathway) are also key regulators of apoptosis and the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis is associated with DNA damage. Oligomerization of Bax or Bak, which are pro-apoptotic proteins of the Bcl-2 family, promotes the release of mitochondrial Cyt-c into the cytoplasm, which combines with the caspase 9 precursor to form an apoptosis complex, and the activation of caspase 9 activates caspase 3 to induce apoptosis (30). The results of the present study demonstrated that decreased expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and increased expression of pro-apoptotic Bax were observed in the CXC195-treated HepG2 cells.…”

Saffron: An Old Medicinal Plant and a Potential Novel Functional Food

“…The pharmacokinetics of trans -crocetin has been validated in animal models [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] and in the plasma of healthy volunteers [ 50 ]. Mohamadpour and coworkers [ 51 ] proposed a quick and sensitive method to determine crocetin in human serum, which will be useful for future clinical pharmacokinetics studies.…”