Growth-inhibiting and Apoptosis-inducing Effects of Tanshinone ⅡA on Human Gastric Carcinoma Cells / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

ABSTRACT

To explore the effects of Taushinone ⅡA on the proliferation, apoptosis and gene ex- pression of p53 and bcl-2 in human gastric carcinoma MKN-45 cells. Cell count and MTT assay were used to study the proliferation-inhibiting effect of Tanshinone ⅡA on MKN-45 cells. The effect of Tanshinone ⅡA on the cell cycle and apoptosis of MKN-45 cells were examined by propidium io- dide (PI) staining and flow cytometry. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was used to further verify the ex- pression of p53 and bcl-2 gene after exposure to Tanshinone ⅡA in MKN-45 cells. The results showed that Tanshinone ⅡA significantly inhibited the growth and proliferation of MKN-45 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner (P<0.05). Tanshinone ⅡA arrested MKN-45 cells in G2/M phase which led to an obvious accumulation of G2/M phase cells while decreased number of G0/G1 phase cells. This resulted in apoptosis of MKN-45 cells and the apoptosis rate was as high as 43.91% after treatment with 2.0 μg/mL Tanshinone ⅡA for 96 h. It was also found that Tanshinone ⅡA up-regulated expression of p53 gene and down-regulated expression of bcl-2 gene. The cytostatic and antiproliferative effect of Tanshinone ⅡA makes it a promising anticancer agent for the treatment of gastric carcinoma.