Rahmati-Yamchi Mohammad, Ghareghomi Somayyeh, Haddadchi Gholamreza, Milani Morteza, Aghazadeh Mohammad, Daroushnejad Hasan
Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran,
Mol Biol Rep. 2014 Sep;41(9):6247-52. doi: 10.1007/s11033-014-3505-y. Epub 2014 Jun 29.
Trigonella foenum-graecum generally known as fenugreek, has been normally cultivated in Asia and Africa for the edible and medicinal values of its seeds. Fenugreek leaves and seeds have been used widely for therapeutic purposes. Fenugreek seed is recognized to show anti-diabetic and anti-nociceptive properties and other things such as hypocholesterolaemic, and anti-cancer. Diosgenin is a steroidal saponin from therapeutic herbs, fenugreek (T. foenum-graceum L.), has been well-known to have anticancer properties. Telomerase activity is not identified in usual healthy cells, while in carcinogenic cell telomerase expression is reactivated. Therefore telomerase illustrates a promising cancer therapeutic target. We deliberate the inhibitory effect of pure diosgenin and fenugreek extract diosgenin on human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (hTERT) expression which is critical for telomerase activity. MTT-assay and qRT-PCR analysis were achieved to discover cytotoxicity effects and hTERT gene expression inhibition properties, separately. MTT results exhibited that IC50 for pure diosgenin were 47, 44 and 43 µM and for fenugreek extract diosgenin were 49, 48 and 47 µM for 24, 48 and 72 h after treatment. Culturing cells with pure diosgenin and fenugreek extract diosgenin treatment caused in down regulation of hTERT expression. These results indication that pure and impure diosgenin prevents telomerase activity by down regulation of the hTERT gene expression in A549 lung cancer cell line, with the difference that pure compound is more effective than another.
胡芦巴，通常被称为葫芦巴，因其种子的食用和药用价值，在亚洲和非洲广泛种植。胡芦巴的叶子和种子已被广泛用于治疗目的。胡芦巴种子被认为具有抗糖尿病、抗伤害感受特性以及其他如降胆固醇和抗癌等作用。薯蓣皂苷元是一种来自治疗性草药胡芦巴（Trigonella foenum - graceum L.）的甾体皂苷，众所周知具有抗癌特性。在正常健康细胞中未发现端粒酶活性，而在癌细胞中端粒酶表达被重新激活。因此，端粒酶是一个有前景的癌症治疗靶点。我们研究了纯薯蓣皂苷元和胡芦巴提取物薯蓣皂苷元对人端粒酶逆转录酶基因（hTERT）表达的抑制作用，该基因对端粒酶活性至关重要。分别进行MTT法和qRT - PCR分析以发现细胞毒性作用和hTERT基因表达抑制特性。MTT结果显示，处理24、48和72小时后，纯薯蓣皂苷元的IC50分别为47、44和43 µM，胡芦巴提取物薯蓣皂苷元的IC50分别为49、48和47 µM。用纯薯蓣皂苷元和胡芦巴提取物薯蓣皂苷元处理培养细胞导致hTERT表达下调。这些结果表明，纯的和不纯的薯蓣皂苷元通过下调A549肺癌细胞系中的hTERT基因表达来阻止端粒酶活性，不同之处在于纯化合物比另一种更有效。
