Total saponins of Tupistra chinensis induces apoptosis in A549 cells

Abstract

Tupistra chinensis Baker has been used as a folk remedy in China, and it has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammation, expectorant and anti-bacterial effects. In this study, we report the cytotoxic activity of the total saponins of Tupistra chinensis Baker (TST) against several carcinoma cell lines, including A549, MCF-7 and HeLa cells with the IC50 values of 4.11 μg/ml, 6.47 μg/ml and 7.78 μg/ml respectively. Treatment of A549 cells with TST resulted in growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in a time-dependent manners determined by cell viability, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation and flow cytometry analysis. The activities of caspase-3, 9 were significantly increased following TST treatment. Real-time PCR analysis showed that the mRNA expression levels of pro-apoptosis related genes including Bax, P21, P27 and P53 were markedly increased in the cells treated with TST but anti-apoptosis related gene Bcl-2 was slightly decreased. TST also leads to a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in a time-dependent manner the release of cytochrome C from mitochondria into the cytosol. Thus, these results suggest that TST may play an important role in tumor growth suppression by inducing apoptosis in human A549 cells via mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways and the TST would be promising to treat human lung adenocarcinoma.

Triptolide inhibits the multidrug resistance in prostate cancer cells via the downregulation of MDR1 expression

“…On the other hand, our results showed that TPL increased the levels of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Fas and Bax, and decreased the level of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. The cleavage of pro-Caspase-3 is a marker of the execution of apoptosis [17]. Our finding that TPL increased the level of cleaved Caspase-3 serves as additional evidence that TPL modulates the expression of apoptosis associated proteins to promote the apoptosis of prostate cancer cells.…”

Growth-inhibiting and apoptosis-inducing activities of Myricanol from the bark of Myrica rubra in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells

“…7, Myricanol treatment significantly upregulated the mRNA expression level of Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Bax, and p21 and significantly downregulated the mRNA expression level of Bcl-2 in a dose-dependent manner. All gene expression changes contributed to cell apoptosis (Huang et al, 2012).…”

Steroidal Saponins from the Roots and Rhizomes of Tupistra chinensis

“…The roots and rhizomes of T. c hinensis are commonly used as folk medicine to treat throat irritation, rheumatic diseases and snake-bites [2,3]. Modern pharmacological experiments have showed that the extracts of this species possess significant antitumor activities [4,5], moreover, two main kinds of components—cardenolides and saponins—were isolated from T. chinensis [3,6,7]. As part of our research project to find more diverse bioactive leading compounds from the medicinal herbs of the Qinba Mountains [8,9,10,11], the chemical constituents and pharmacological studies of T. chinensis were investigated, and two new furostanol saponins, 1β,2β,3β,4β,5β,26-hexahydroxyfurost-20(22),25(27)-dien-5,26- O -β- d -glucopyranoside ( 1 ), 1β,2β,3β,4β,5β,6β,7α,23ξ,26-nonahydroxyfurost-20(22),25(27)-dien-26- O -β- d -glucopyranoside ( 2 ), and a new spirostanol saponin (20 S ,22 R )-spirost-25(27)-en-1β,3β,5β-trihydroxy-1- O -β- d -xyloside ( 3 ) were obtained from the roots and rhizomes of T. chinensis together with the two known compounds tupisteroide B ( 4 ) and 5β-furost-Δ 25(27) -en-1β,2β,3β,4β,5β,7α,22ξ,26-octahydroxy-6-one-26- O -β- d -glucopyranoside ( 5 ) (Figure 1).…”