Departamento de Química y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile.
Biol Res. 2011;44(3):243-9. Epub 2011 Nov 7.
Cimicifuga foetida, an Asian Cimicifuga species, has been employed as a cooling and detoxification agent in traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times. For this herb, two cycloartane triterpene glycosides isolated from the rhizomes have demonstrated cytotoxicity on rat tumor and human cancer cell lines. Since human Hsp27 is increased in various human cancers and exhibits cytoprotective activity that affects tumorigenesis and the susceptibility of tumours to cancer treatment, the purpose of this research was to study the expression of this protein in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. To accomplish this aim, MCF-7 cells were exposed to different concentrations of Cimicifuga foetida extract showing a reduction in cell number measured by the sulforhodamine assay. In addition, the expression of Hsp-27 mRNA detected by RT-PCR and Hsp-27 protein detected by immnofluorescence was present in all conditions, except when using the highest concentration of Cimicifuga foetida extract (2,000 jig /L). We conclude that Hsp 27 expression at 2,000 jig /L Cimicifuga foetida extract is diminished. This is the first report showing the Hsp-27 expression after exposure to Cimicifuga foetida extract in MCF-7 cells.
升麻，一种亚洲升麻属植物，自古以来就被用作传统中药的清热解毒剂。这种草药的根茎中分离得到的两种环阿尔廷三萜糖苷已显示出对大鼠肿瘤和人癌细胞系的细胞毒性。由于人类 Hsp27 在各种人类癌症中增加，并表现出影响肿瘤发生和肿瘤对癌症治疗的敏感性的细胞保护活性，因此本研究的目的是研究该蛋白在 MCF-7 乳腺癌细胞中的表达。为了实现这一目标，用不同浓度的升麻提取物处理 MCF-7 细胞，通过磺酰罗丹明测定法测量细胞数量减少。此外，通过 RT-PCR 检测 Hsp-27 mRNA 的表达，通过免疫荧光检测 Hsp-27 蛋白的表达，除了使用最高浓度的升麻提取物（2000μg/L）外，所有条件下均存在。我们得出结论，在 2000μg/L 升麻提取物中 Hsp27 的表达减少。这是首次报道在 MCF-7 细胞中暴露于升麻提取物后 Hsp-27 的表达。
