• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.148-153
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• 2008

We investigated the growth inhibitory effect of Salicornia herbacea L. (SH) on human cancer cell lines in vitro. SH was extracted with methanol (SHM), followed by further fractionation into four subfractions according to polarity: hexane (SHMH), methanol (SHMM), butanol (SHMB), and aqueous (SHMA) soluble fractions. We determined the growth inhibitory effect of these fractions against human cancer cell lines using MTT assay. Among the four subfractions of SHM, the SHMM showed the strongest cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines. We also observed quinone reductase (QR)-inducing effect of methanol layer (SHMM) on HepG2 cells and it was determined to be 3.00 at $100\;{\mu}g/mL$ level compared to the control value of 1.0. The SHMM showed the highest induction activity of quinone reductase on HepG2 cells among the partition layers. The present work suggests that SH merits further study to confirm its chemopreventive potential.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.750-758
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• 2012

This study investigated flavonoid, total phenol, total flavonoid content, antioxidant and antiproliferative activity on human breast cancer cells (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231). Four varieties of Korean green peppers (KP: kkuri pepper, PP: phut pepper, CP: cheongyang pepper, OP: ohi pepper) and one foreign green pepper (JP: jalapeno) were used. The contents of luteolin, quercetin and apigenin, which are abundant flavonoids in green pepper, were the highest in KP. Also, the contents of total phenol, and total flavonoids were the highest in KP, followed by CP, JP, PP, and OP (KP: total phenol $13.29{\pm}0.45$ mg GAE/g D.W., total flavonoid $7.02{\pm}0.13$ mg QE/g D.W. In DPPH ABTS radical-scavenging activity, KP showed the most potent antioxidant activity. In the result of viability in human breast cancer cells, KP had the highest antiproliferative effect. These results suggest that green peppers have significant antioxidant activity and can be a possible candidate for treatment of breast cancer.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.694-708
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• 2007

Objectives : Jageum-Jung is used as an anti-cancer agent in oriental medicine, but the mechanism by which it induces cell death in cancer cells is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Jageum-Jung on apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in HepG2 hepatoma cells. Methods : Various cancer cell lines including HepG2, C6 glioma, SH-SY5Y, PANC-1, and MCF-7 cells, were used. Apoptosis was determined by DAPI nuclei staining and flow cytometry in HepG2 cells treated with various concentrations (from 25 to 200 ${\mu}g/ml$) of $H_2O$ extract of Jageum-Jung (JGJ) for 48 hrs. Expression of cell cycle arrest mediators including Rb, p53, p21, cyclin B1, cdk4, and cyclin E proteins were measured by Western blot analysis. To estimate intracellular hydrogen peroxide levels and intracellular nitric oxide levels, HepG2 cells were stained with DCFH-DA dye and DAF dye, subjected on flow cytometric analysis. Results : 1. Jageum-Jung decreased the viability of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. 2. Jageum-Jung induced the catalytic activation of caspase-3 in HepG2 cells. 3. Jageum-Jung increased the intracellular hydrogen peroxide and NO in HepG2 cells. 4. Jageum-Jung increased the expression of Rb, p53 and p21 in HepG2 cells. 5. Jageum-Jung induced the expression of cyclin B1, cdk4, and cyclin E in HepG2 cells. Conclusions : Taken together, we suggest that Jageum-Jung exhibits cytotoxic effects on HepG2 cells, causing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The results showed that Jageum-Jung may do so by regulating the expression of specific target molecules that promote efficient apoptotic cell death following $G_2$/M phase arrest in a dose-dependent manner.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.236-250
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• 2020

Currently, many available anti-cancer therapies are targeting apoptosis. However, many cancer cells have acquired resistance to apoptosis. To overcome this problem, simultaneous induction of other types of programmed cell death in addition to apoptosis of cancer cells might be an attractive strategy. For this purpose, we initially investigated the inhibitory role of TRIP-Br1/XIAP in necroptosis, a regulated form of necrosis, under nutrient/serum starvation. Our data showed that necroptosis was significantly induced in all tested 9 different types of cancer cell lines in response to prolonged serum starvation. Among them, necroptosis was induced at a relatively lower level in MCF-7 breast cancer line that was highly resistant to apoptosis than that in other cancer cell lines. Interestingly, TRIP-Br1 oncogenic protein level was found to be very high in this cell line. Up-regulated TRIP-Br1 suppressed necroptosis by repressing reactive oxygen species generation. Such suppression of necroptosis was greatly enhanced by XIAP, a potent inhibitor of apoptosis. Our data also showed that TRIP-Br1 increased XIAP phosphorylation at serine87, an active form of XIAP. Our mitochondrial fractionation data revealed that TRIP-Br1 protein level was greatly increased in the mitochondria upon serum starvation. It suppressed the export of CypD, a vital regulator in mitochondria-mediated necroptosis, from mitochondria to cytosol. TRIP-Br1 also suppressed shikonin-mediated necroptosis, but not TNF-α-mediated necroptosis, implying possible presence of another signaling pathway in necroptosis. Taken together, our results suggest that TRIP-Br1/XIAP can function as onco-proteins by suppressing necroptosis of cancer cells under nutrient/serum starvation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.427-436
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• 2012

Targeted therapy has been a very promising strategy of drug development research. Many molecular mechanims of diseases have been known to be regulated by abundance of proteins, such as receptors and hormones. Chemoprevention for treatment and prevention of diseases are continuously developed. Pre-clinical and clinical studies in chemoprevention field yielded many valuable data in preventing the onset of disease and suppressing the progress of their growth, making chemoprevention a challenging and a very rational strategy in future researches. Natural products being rich of flavonoids are those fruits belong to the genus citrus. Ethanolic extract of Citrus reticulata and Citrus aurantiifolia peels showed anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative, co-chemotherapeutic and estrogenic effects. Several examples of citrus flavonoids that are potential as chemotherapeutic agents are tangeretin, nobiletin, hesperetin, hesperidin, naringenin, and naringin. Those flavonoids have been shown to possess inhibition activity on certain cancer cells' growth through various mechanisms. Moreover, citrus flavonoids also perform promising effect in combination with several chemotherapeutic agents against the growth of cancer cells. Some mechanisms involved in those activities are through cell cycle modulation, antiangiogenic effect, and apoptosis induction.Previous studies showed that tangeretin suppressed the growth of T47D breast cancer cells by inhibiting ERK phosphorylation. While in combination with tamoxifen, doxorubicin, and 5-FU, respectively, it was proven to be synergist on several cancer cells. Hesperidin and naringenin increased cytotoxicitity of doxorubicin on MCF-7 cells and HeLa cells. Besides, citrus flavonoids also performed estrogenic effect in vivo. One example is hesperidin having the ability to decrease the concentration of serum and hepatic lipid and reduce osteoporosis of ovariectomized rats. Those studies showed the great potential of citrus fruits as natural product to be developed as not only the source of co-chemotherapeutic agents, but also phyto-estrogens. Therefore, further study needs to be conducted to explore the potential of citrus fruits in overcoming cancer.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2016

Chlorine dioxide has been used for a disinfectant by exhibiting antimicrobial activity and is also potent to kill insect pests infesting stored grains. This study aimed to extend the usefulness of chlorine dioxide with respect to anticancer and antiviral activities. Cytotoxicity of chlorine dioxide was assessed against five different human cancer cell lines. Chlorine dioxide exhibited significant cytotoxicity against two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) and three colorectal cancer cell lines (LoVo, HCT-116, SW-480). This cytotoxicity appeared to be associated with the capacity of chlorine dioxide to induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Compared to control insect cell lines, the cancer cell lines possessed much higher levels of ROS. On the other hand, a treatment of an antioxidant, vitamin E, significantly reduced the cytotoxicity, suggesting that the cytotoxicity was induced by high levels of ROS production. Chlorine dioxide exhibited antiviral activity against different viruses. A baculovirus, Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV), is a dsDNA insect virus and lost its viral activity to form polyhedral viral particles in response to chlorine dioxide. The antiviral activity against AcNPV was dependent on the incubation time with chlorine dioxide. Tobacco mosaic virus is a ssRNA plant virus and was reduced in its population after exposure to chlorine dioxide along with significant decrease of viral symptoms. These results indicate that chlorine dioxide possesses anticancer and antiviral activities probably due to its inducing activity of ROS production.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.147-152
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• 2000

Various lines of evidence suggest that dietary components protect the initiation of carcinogenesis. In this study, the ethanol extracts (AGE) and the methanol and hexane partition layers (AGEM, AGEH) of the Angelica radix were screened for their cytotoxic effects using the MTT assay on HepG2, HeLa, MCF7 and SW626 cells and for their ability to induce quinone reductase (QR) in HepG2 cells. AGEM and AGEH of the Angelica radix showed the strongest cytotoxic effects on HepG2 and HeLa cells. Cell growth was inhibited by 99.8% and 99.8% on HepG2 cells and 99.3% and 99.4% on HeLa cells, at dose of $100\;\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ of AGEM and AGEH extracts respectively. AGE and AGEH significantly induced QR activities in the HepG2 cells. The QR activities of HepG2 cells grown in the presence of AGE, AGEH, and AGEM at the concentration of $50\;\mu\textrm{g}/mL$ were 313.5, 273.3 and 133.3 nmol/min/mg protein, respectively. Therefore, based on these studies, Angelica radix may be developed into a potentially useful cancer chemopreventive agent.