Casuarinin from the Bark of Terminalia arjuna Induces Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Breast Adenocarcinoma MCF-7 Cells

Po-Lin Kuo; Ya-Ling Hsu; Ta-Chen Lin; Liang-Tzung Lin; Jiunn-Kae Chang; Chun-Ching Lin

doi:10.1055/s-2005-837823

Planta Medica, Table of Contents

Planta Med 2005; 71(3): 237-243
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-837823

Original Paper

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Casuarinin from the Bark of Terminalia arjuna Induces Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Breast Adenocarcinoma MCF-7 Cells

Po-Lin Kuo¹ , Ya-Ling Hsu² , Ta-Chen Lin³ , Liang-Tzung Lin⁴ , Jiunn-Kae Chang¹ , Chun-Ching Lin²

¹Department of Biotechnology, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan
²Graduate Institute of Natural Products, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
³Department of pharmacy, Ta-Jen Institute of Technology, Ping-Tung, Taiwan
⁴Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

Casuarinin, a hydrolyzable tannin isolated from the bark of Terminalia arjuna L. (Combretaceae), was investigated for its antiproliferative activity in human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells. The results showed that casuarinin inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 by blocking cell cycle progression in the G0/G1 phase and inducing apoptosis. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that casuarinin increased the expression of p21/WAF1 concomitantly as the MCF-7 cells underwent G0/G1 arrest. An enhancement in Fas/APO-1 and its two forms of ligands, membrane-bound Fas ligand (mFasL) and soluble Fas ligand (sFasL), might be responsible for the apoptotic effect induced by casuarinin. Our study reports here for the first time that the induction of p21/WAF1 and the activity of Fas/Fas ligand apoptotic system may participate in the antiproliferative activity of casuarinin in MCF-7 cells.

Key words

Terminalia arjuna - Combretaceae - casuarinin - p53 - p21/WAF1 - Fas/APO-1 - Fas ligand - apoptosis

Full Text

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Professor Chun-Ching Lin

Graduate Institute of Natural Products

College of Pharmacy

Kaohsiung Medical University

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Kaohsiung 807

Taiwan

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