Anti-proliferative effect of ginseng saponins on human prostate cancer cell line

• Published in: Life sciences (1973) 2000-08, Vol.67 (11), p.1297-1306
• Main Authors: Liu, W.K., Xu, S.X., Che, C.T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - pharmacology; Apoptosis; Base Sequence; Cell Cycle - drug effects; Cell Division - drug effects; Cell Line; Cell morphology; DNA Primers; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Gene expression; Ginsenosides; Humans; Male; Mice; Panax - chemistry; Panax ginseng saponins; Plants, Medicinal; Prostate cancer cells; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Saponins - pharmacology; Tumor Cells, Cultured
• ISSN: 0024-3205; 1879-0631
• DOI: 10.1016/S0024-3205(00)00720-7

Ginseng is a medicinal herb widely used in Asian countries, and many of its pharmacological actions are attributed to the ginsenosides. In a study of the anti-proliferative activity of ginsenosides using human prostate carcinoma LNCaP cell line, ginsenoside Rg3 displayed growth inhibitory activity. The cells lost its adherent property after incubation in the presence of 250 μM of ginsenoside for 48h. The expression of biomarker genes, including prostate specific antigen (PSA), androgen receptor (AR) and 5α–reductase (5αR), and that of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), were suppressed. Ginsenoside Rg3 induced classic apoptotic morphology and interfered with the expression of apoptosis-related genes, bcl-2 and caspase-3, in LNCaP cells, as demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Taken our results together, we suggested that ginsenoside Rg3 activated the expression of cyclin-kinase inhibitors, p21 and p27, arrested LNCaP cells at G1 phase, and subsequently inhibited cell growth through a caspase-3-mediated apoptosis mechanism.