ABSTRACT
There have been no published studies concerning the anti-inflammatory effects of corn silk on colon cancer cells. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of corn silk extract containing high levels of maysin on inflammation and its mechanism of action in colon cancer cells. SW 480 human colon cancer cells were treated with 1 µg/mL of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation, and next they were treated with different concentrations of corn silk extract (0, 5, 10 and 15 µg/mL). The concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) were determined. The mRNA expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), were determined. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the protein expressions of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinases, and the latter consists of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK), c-jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 MAP kinase (p38). The concentration of NO and the mRNA expression of iNOS were significantly and dose-dependently decreased in the corn silk-treated groups (P<0.05). The mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 were significantly increased in the LPS-treated group (P<0.05), but these expressions were significantly and dose-dependently decreased in the corn silk treated groups (P<0.05). The protein expressions of NF-κB (in a dose-dependent fashion), ERK (at 10 and 15 µg/mL), JNK (at 15 µg/mL) and p38 (at 10 and 15 µg/mL) were significantly decreased with corn silk treatments (P<0.05). In conclusion, corn silk extract containing high levels of maysin seems to inhibit the LPS-induced inflammatory responses in SW480 colon cancer cells via the NF-κB pathway.