Department of Gastroenterology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2011 Mar;67(3):605-12. doi: 10.1007/s00280-010-1356-3. Epub 2010 May 21.
Noscapine plays an important role in the regulation of cell growth and death. It has been reported to potentiate the anti-tumor effect by inducing apoptosis in various malignant cells. However, the mechanism of inducing apoptosis in gastric cancer cells by this agent remains to be clarified.
In the study, we investigated the signaling pathways by which noscapine induces apoptosis in gastric cancer cell lines. Apoptosis of four human gastric cancer cell lines was induced by treatment with noscapine.
Our results indicate that noscapine induced a dose-dependent apoptosis of these cells. The treatment with noscapine upregulated Bax and Cytochrome c (Cyt-c) protein, downregulated Bcl-2 protein. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 were activated, suggesting that the apoptosis is mediated by mitochondrial pathways. Moreover, in xenograft tumor mouse model, noscapine injection successfully inhibited the tumor growth via apoptosis induction which was demonstrated by TUNEL assay.
These data of the study suggest that noscapine induces apoptosis in gastric cancer cells via mitochondrial pathways.
罂粟碱在细胞生长和死亡的调节中发挥重要作用。据报道，它通过诱导各种恶性细胞凋亡来增强抗肿瘤作用。然而，该药物诱导胃癌细胞凋亡的机制仍有待阐明。
在这项研究中，我们研究了罂粟碱诱导胃癌细胞系凋亡的信号通路。用罂粟碱处理四种人胃癌细胞系，诱导细胞凋亡。
我们的结果表明，罂粟碱诱导这些细胞产生剂量依赖性凋亡。罂粟碱处理上调 Bax 和细胞色素 c（Cyt-c）蛋白，下调 Bcl-2 蛋白。同时激活 caspase-3 和 caspase-9，表明凋亡是通过线粒体途径介导的。此外，在异种移植肿瘤小鼠模型中，通过 TUNEL 检测证实，罂粟碱注射通过诱导细胞凋亡成功抑制了肿瘤生长。
本研究的数据表明，罂粟碱通过线粒体途径诱导胃癌细胞凋亡。
