Department of Molecular and Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, VNU-HCM, University of Science, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Vietnam.
Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, VNU-HCM, University of Science, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Vietnam.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2021 Oct 30;21(1):273. doi: 10.1186/s12906-021-03444-6.
Gastric cancer is one of the most leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Therefore, treatment studies have been being conducted, one of which is screening of novel agents from medicinal herbs. Elephantopus mollis Kunth (EM) belonging to Asteraceae family is a perennial herb with several therapeutic properties including anticancer activity. However, the effect of this species on gastric cancer has not been reported yet. In this study, cytotoxicity of different EM crude extracts was investigated on AGS gastric cancer cell line. Besides, the effects of extract on nuclear morphology, caspase-3 activation, and gene expression were also explored.
The results showed that ethyl acetate extract exhibited a remarkably inhibitory ability (IC = 27.5 μg/ml) on the growth of AGS cells, while causing less toxicity to normal human fibroblasts. The extract also induced apoptotic deaths in AGS cells as evidenced by cell shrinkage, formation of apoptotic bodies, nuclear fragmentation, caspase-3 activation, and the upregulation of BAK and APAF-1 pro-apoptotic genes related to mitochondrial signaling pathway. Specifically, BAK and APAF-1 mRNA expression levels showed 2.57 and 2.71-fold increases respectively.
The current study not only proved the anti-gastric cancer activity of EM ethyl acetate extract but also proposed its molecular mechanism. The extract could be a potential candidate for further investigation.
胃癌是全球癌症死亡的主要原因之一。因此，一直在进行治疗研究，其中之一是从草药中筛选新型药物。菊科的象草（EM）是一种多年生草本植物，具有多种治疗特性，包括抗癌活性。然而，这种物种对胃癌的影响尚未报道。在这项研究中，研究了不同 EM 粗提取物对 AGS 胃癌细胞系的细胞毒性。此外，还研究了提取物对核形态、caspase-3 激活和基因表达的影响。
结果表明，乙酸乙酯提取物对 AGS 细胞的生长具有显著的抑制能力（IC = 27.5 μg/ml），而对正常人类成纤维细胞的毒性较小。提取物还诱导 AGS 细胞发生凋亡死亡，表现为细胞收缩、凋亡小体形成、核片段化、caspase-3 激活以及与线粒体信号通路相关的促凋亡基因 BAK 和 APAF-1 的上调。具体而言，BAK 和 APAF-1 的 mRNA 表达水平分别增加了 2.57 倍和 2.71 倍。
本研究不仅证明了 EM 乙酸乙酯提取物的抗胃癌活性，还提出了其分子机制。该提取物可能是进一步研究的潜在候选药物。
