Department of Clinical Pathology, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
J Agric Food Chem. 2010 Dec 22;58(24):12999-3005. doi: 10.1021/jf103335w. Epub 2010 Nov 17.
Capsaicin was reported to inhibit cancer cell growth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antitumor potential of capsaicin by studying antitumor activity in vitro as well as in vivo. The in vitro studies are to examine the effects of capsaicin on human colon cancer colo 205 cells after exposure to capsaicin. The results showed that capsaicin induced cytotoxic effects in a time- and dose-dependent manner and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca(2+) but decreased the level of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ(m)) in colo 205 cells. Data from Western blotting analysis indicated that the levels of Fas, cytochrome c, and caspases were increased, leading to cell apoptosis. Capsaicin decreased the levels of anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and increased the levels of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bax. Capsaicin-induced apoptosis in colo 205 cells was also done through the activations of caspase-8, -9 and -3. In vivo studies in immunodeficient nu/nu mice bearing colo 205 tumor xenografts showed that capsaicin effectively inhibited tumor growth. The potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities of capsaicin suggest that capsaicin might be developed for the treatment of human colon cancer.
辣椒素被报道能抑制癌细胞生长。本研究旨在通过体外和体内研究来评估辣椒素的抗肿瘤潜能。体外研究是研究辣椒素暴露后对人结肠癌细胞colo 205 的作用。结果表明，辣椒素呈时间和剂量依赖性诱导细胞毒性作用，并增加活性氧（ROS）和 Ca(2+)，同时降低线粒体膜电位（ΔΨ(m)）。Western blot 分析数据表明 Fas、细胞色素 c 和半胱天冬酶的水平增加，导致细胞凋亡。辣椒素降低了抗凋亡蛋白如 Bcl-2 的水平，并增加了促凋亡蛋白如 Bax 的水平。辣椒素诱导的 colo 205 细胞凋亡还通过 caspase-8、-9 和 -3 的激活来实现。在携带 colo 205 肿瘤异种移植物的免疫缺陷 nu/nu 小鼠的体内研究表明，辣椒素能有效抑制肿瘤生长。辣椒素在体外和体内均具有强大的抗肿瘤活性，提示辣椒素可能被开发用于治疗人类结肠癌。
