ABSTRACT
Aim To demonstrate that bigelovii E,one of the triterpenoid compounds isolated from Salicornia bigelovii Torr. ,induced apoptosis and inhibited prolif-eration of human breast cancer cells MCF-7. Methods MTT and Clonogenic were used to detect the anti-proliferative effect of bigelovii E on human tumor cells. Hoechst 33258 staining was used to observe the chan-ges of cell morphology in the treatment with bigelovii E. The effect of bigelovii E on cell apoptosis,cell mi-tochondrial membrane potential and the ROS level was analyzed by flow cytometry. The expression of mito-chondrial apoptotic pathway and its regulated proteins were analyzed by Western blot. Results Bigelovii E was most sensitive to MCF-7;bigelovii E had lower toxicity to normal cells HLF1;bigelovii E inhibited the colony formation of breast cancer MCF-7;the apoptosis pattern induced by bigelovii E was detected by Hoechst 33258;Western blot showed that bigelovii E could down-regulate the phosphorylation of mTOR,p70S6K and 4-EBP,up-regulate the expression of Bcl-xl and Mcl-1 proteins,promote the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway,reduce the mitochondrial membrane poten-tial,and induce ROS,leading to mitochondrial func-tion damage,and ultimately inducing apoptosis. Con-clusion Bigelovii E regulates mitochondrial apoptosis pathway through mTOR pathway,induces apoptosis and has a good anti-tumor effect.