Assessment of anti-cancerous potential of 6-gingerol (Tongling White Ginger) and its synergy with drugs on human cervical adenocarcinoma cells.

The anti-cancerous activity of 6-gingerol extracted from Tongling White Ginger was investigated. 6-Gingerol inhibited the growth of HeLa cells with IC50 (96.32 μM) and IC80 (133.01 μM) and led to morphological changes, induced the cell cycle arrest in G0/G1-phase and ultimately resulted into apoptosis. Among cell cycle-related genes and proteins, the expression of cyclin (A, D1, E1) reduced, while of CDK-1, p21 and p27 showed slight decrease, except cyclin B1 and E1 (protein). Western blotting reported the induction of apoptosis with an increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, release of cytochrome c, cleavage of caspase-3, -8, -9 and PRPP in treated cells. 6-Gingerol activated AMPK, but inhibited PI3K/AKT phosphorylation with reduced P70S6K expression and also suppressed the mTOR phosphorylation. 6-Gingerol with 5-FU and Ptx resulted in 83.2% and 52% inhibition respectively, this synergy have stimulated apoptosis proteins more efficiently as compared to 6-Gingerol alone (10.75%) under in vitro conditions.