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KMID : 0613820080180060804
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Journal of Life Science
2008 Volume.18 No. 6 p.804 ~ p.813
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Induction of Apaopotis by Water Extract of Cordyceps militaris (WECM) in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma HepG2 Cells
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Kim Kyung-Mi
Park Cheol
Choi Yung-Hyun
Lee Won-Ho
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Abstract
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Cordyceps militaris, the Chinese medicinal fungal genus Cordyceps, is reported to possess many pharmacological activities including immunological stimulating, anti-cancer, anti-virus and anti-infection activities. However, the molecular mechanisms of C. militaris on biochemical actions in cancer have not been clearly elucidated yet. In the present study, we investigated the anti-proliferative activity of the water extract of C. militaris (WECM) in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. It was found that WECM could inhibit the cell growth in a dose-dependent manner, which was associated with morphological changes and apoptotic cell death such as formation of apoptotic bodies and increased populations of apoptotic sub-G1 phase. Apoptotic cell death of HepG2 cells by WECM was connected with a up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax ex-pression, tumor suppressor p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (WAF1/CIP1). In addition, WECM treatment induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and a concomitant degradation and/or inhibition of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), β-catenin and phospholipase (PLC)-γ1 protein. Furthermore, caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, significantly inhibited WECM-induced apoptosis demonstrating the important role of caspase-3 in the observed cytotoxic effect. Taken together, these findings provide important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of C. militaris.
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KEYWORD
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Cordycepsmilitaris, HepG2, apoptosis, Bax, p21, caspase-3
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