Study on Apoptosis-Promoting Mechanism of β-elemene in Anti-liver Cancer / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

ABSTRACT

This article was aimed to study the inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis by β-el-emene extract from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Rhizoma Zedoariae on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells, as well as the effect on expression of apoptosis-related proteins in liver cancer-burdened H22 mice. Human HepG2 cells were cultured in vitro. MTT method was used in the determination of β-elemene on cell prolif-eration. Apoptosis of cells were detected by the Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining method. Through the establish-ment of liver cancer-burdened H22 mice model, the inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis-related protein expression by β-elemene on tumor-burdened mice were observed. The results showed that β-elemene inhib-ited HepG2 cell proliferation, which was dose- and time-dependent. Annexin V-FITC/PI method detected early apoptotic cells. Inhibitions of tumor growth on tumor-burdened mice from different groups were different. Inhibition of tumor growth in the high-dose β-elemene group was relatively low, and that of the middle-dose was more obvi-ous. It was concluded that β-elemene can effectively inhibit human HepG2 cells proliferation. The inhibition on pro-liferation of cancer cells was through the inducing of cell apoptosis. It was also related to the upregulation of apopto-sis-related protein Caspase-3 and downregulation of NF-κB P65.