Abstract

Prunella vulgaris L. (PV) has been used as a herb for chemoprevention of lung cancer. In this study, the main active compound, oleanolic acid (OA) was isolated from an ethanol extract and its chemical structure was identified according to the results of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrography (LC-MS). Results for cell viability indictated no notable differences between OA and ethanol extract of PV in lung adenocarcinoma SPC-A-1 cells measured by MTT assay. Consistent concentration-response curves. Fluorescence detection with acridine orange-ethidium bromide was used to evaluate apoptosis of SPC-A-1 cells. OA at 16 and 8 microM group increased significantly the apoptosis rate compared with normal and 1% DMSO groups (p<0.05). In addition, immunocytochemistry assays showed increase in Bax and Bad protein expression while Bcl-2 decreased. Moreover, the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 was heightened by OA treatment. The results suggest OA induced apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma cells through down-regulating Bcl-2 expression, and up-regulating Bax and Bad expression.

Authors

Feng L, Au-Yeung W, Xu YH, Wang SS, Zhu Q, Xiang P

Institution

Biotechnology Labortory of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau.

Source

Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP 12:2 2011 pg 403-8

MeSH

Adenocarcinoma
Apoptosis
Blotting, Western
Cell Proliferation
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Chromatography, Liquid
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
Humans
Immunoenzyme Techniques
Lung Neoplasms
Oleanolic Acid
Phytotherapy
Plant Extracts
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
Prunella
Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
Tumor Cells, Cultured
bcl-2-Associated X Protein
bcl-Associated Death Protein

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

21545203