Apoptosis Induced by Isoliquiritigenin in Human Gastric Cancer MGC-803 Cells

Jing Ma; Nai-Yang Fu; Da-Ben Pang; Wen-Yan Wu; An-Long Xu

doi:10.1055/s-2001-18361

Planta Medica, Table of Contents

Planta Med 2001; 67(8): 754-757
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-18361

Letter

Apoptosis Induced by Isoliquiritigenin in Human Gastric Cancer MGC-803 Cells

Jing Ma¹ , Nai-Yang Fu¹ , Da-Ben Pang² , Wen-Yan Wu¹ , An-Long Xu^1,*

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Center for Biopharmaceutical Research and State Key Laboratory For Biocontrol, College of Life Science, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, P. R. China
² Institute of Fundamental Theory Research, China Academy of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Beijing, P. R. China

Abstract

Isoliquiritigenin, which is possibly a principal anti-tumor constituent of licorice, a traditional Chinese herb, was examined for apoptosis-inducing activity in human gastric cancer MGC-803 cells. Typical morphological and biochemical features of apoptosis including cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, DNA ladder formation, and appearance of apoptotic peaks (subG₁) were observed in MGC-803 cells with isoliquiritigenin treatment. Using Fluo-3 and Rh123 as fluorescent probes, respectively, it was found that the intracellular free calcium concentration increased and the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψ_m) decreased in a dose-dependent manner in apoptotic cells. These results suggest that isoliquiritigenin induced apoptosis of MGC-803 cells through calcium- and Δψ_m-dependent pathways, indicating that it is potentially useful as a natural anti-cancer agent.

Full Text

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Prof. An-Long Xu, Ph. D.

Department of Biochemistry

College of Life Sciences

Zhongshan (Sun Yatsen) University

Guangzhou 510275

P.R. China

Email: ls36@zsu.edu.cn

Fax: +86-20-84038377

Phone: Tel.: +86-20-8411-3655