RESUMO
Triptolide, a diterpene derived from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f., a Chinese medicinal herb, has been reported to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in various human cancer cells, but its anticancer effects on human osteosarcoma cells have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we investigated whether triptolide induces apoptosis in human osteosarcoma cells and the underlying molecular mechanisms. We firstly demonstrated that triptolide inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis in U2OS cells. Western blot analysis showed that the levels of procaspase-8, -9, Bcl-2, Bid and mitochondrial cytochrome c were downregulated in triptolide-treated U2OS cells, whereas the levels of Fas, FasL, Bax, cytosolic cytochrome c, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP were upregulated. These results suggest that triptolide induces apoptosis in U2OS cells by activating both death receptor and mitochondrial apoptotic pathways.
Assuntos
Antineoplásicos/farmacologia , Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Caspase 3/metabolismo , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Proliferação de Células/efeitos dos fármacos , Diterpenos/farmacologia , Ativação Enzimática/efeitos dos fármacos , Compostos de Epóxi/farmacologia , Pontos de Checagem da Fase G2 do Ciclo Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Humanos , Pontos de Checagem da Fase M do Ciclo Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Mitocôndrias/efeitos dos fármacos , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Osteossarcoma/patologia , Fenantrenos/farmacologia , Poli(ADP-Ribose) Polimerases/metabolismo , Proteólise/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
In this study, the effect of cordycepin (3’-deoxyadenosine), a major component of Cordyceps militaris, an ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine was investigated for the first time on apoptotsis in human neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2)-C and melanoma SK-MEL-2 cells. Cordycepin significantly inhibited the proliferation of human neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2)-C and human melanoma SK-MEL-2 cells with IC50 values of 120 mM and 80 mM, respectively. Cordycepin treatment at 120 mM and 80 mM, respectively, induced apoptosis in both cells and caused the increase of cell accumulation in a time-dependent manner at the apoptotic sub-G1 phase, as evidenced by the flow cytometry (FCM) and annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) analyses. Western blot analysis revealed the induction of active caspase-3 and poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) cleavage by cordycepin treatment. These results suggest that cordycepin is a potential candidate for cancer therapy of neuroblastoma and melanoma.