Effects of ginsenoside Rg3 on apoptosis in A375.S2 melanoma cells

Abstract

Background Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer, and metastatic malignant melanoma is very difficult to treat. Ginsenoside Rg3 extracted from ginseng has been reported to have anticancer effects in various kinds of cancer. It has also been reported that Rg3 induced apoptosis and inhibited metastasis of melanoma cells derived from rats, but studies on the anti-cancer effects of Rg3 on melanoma cells originating from humans have been rarely reported. In this study, to investigate whether Rg3 has anticancer effects in human melanoma cells, A375.S2 cells were used to determine whether Rg3 induces apoptosis of malignant melanoma cells and which signaling pathway leads to apoptosis. Methods In this study, we conducted in vitro experiments. First, we examined the effect of Rg3 on A375.S2 cells to change cell viability, cell morphology, colony formation ability, and cell motility. And then, through the use of flow cytometric assay, Western blot, and immunocytochemistry, we examined that Rg3-treated melanoma cells were killed through apoptosis. Finally, we examined the signaling pathway of apoptosis by measuring cell viability after treatment with apoptotic kinase inhibitor. Results As a result, cell viability, cell morphology, colony formation ability, and cell motility of A375.S2 cells treated with Rg3 were changed. After this experiment, we demonstrated that Rg3 induces A375.S2 melanoma cell apoptosis. Also, this apoptosis can be related to the MEK signaling pathway. Conclusions We have shown that Rg3 can induce apoptosis of A375.S2 human melanoma cells through this study.

Panax quinquefolium L. Ginsenosides from Hairy Root Cultures and Their Clones Exert Cytotoxic, Genotoxic and Pro-Apoptotic Activity towards Human Colon Adenocarcinoma Cell Line Caco-2

“…These findings confirm that extracts were not only able to decrease the metabolic activity of Caco-2 cells but also had an anti-proliferative effect. An analysis of the colony formation ability of melanoma A375.S2 cells 24 h after treatment with different Rg3 ginsenoside concentrations found this ability to decrease for all Rg3 concentration levels compared with controls [32].…”

“…The cells were incubated with different extract concentrations (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 mg/mL) for 12 h. [31]. The Rg3 ginsenoside level was also found to significantly decrease 375.S2 melanoma cell viability compared with controls (IC 50 20 µM) [32]. Li et al [33] observed that the total ginsenoside extract of Chinese ginseng containing a mixture of Rg1, Re, Rd and Rb1 induced stronger cytotoxicity against HT-29 human colon cancer cells than its individual ginsenoside components.…”

Oridonin induces autophagy-mediated cell death in pancreatic cancer by activating the c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway and inhibiting phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling

“…Apoptosis is a controlled mechanistic process which ensures homeostatic maintenance of cells in normal tissues and the elimination of disordered cells. Many pathways related to apoptosis are mutated or dysregulated in human cancers (10)(11)(12). Apoptosis is characterized by a loss of viability accompanied by cytosolic vacuolization, chromatin condensation, and nuclear DNA fragmentation (13).…”