title: The antiproliferative activity of aloe-emodin is through p53-dependent and p21-dependent apoptotic pathway in human hepatoma cell lines.
abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the anticancer effect of aloe-emodin in two human liver cancer cell lines, Hep G2 and Hep 3B. We observed that aloe-emodin inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in both examined cell lines, but with different the antiproliferative mechanisms. In Hep G2 cells, aloe-emodin induced p53 expression and was accompanied by induction of p21 expression that was associated with a cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. In addition, aloe-emodin had a marked increase in Fas/APO1 receptor and Bax expression. In contrast, with p53-deficient Hep 3B cells, the inhibition of cell proliferation of aloe-emodin was mediated through a p21-dependent manner that did not cause cell cycle arrest or increase the level of Fas/APO1 receptor, but rather promoted aloe-emodin induced apoptosis by enhancing expression of Bax. These findings suggest that aloe-emodin may be useful in liver cancer prevention.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Natural Products, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Po-Lin
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Ta-Chen
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chun-Ching
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000504:Aloe / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D000880:Anthraquinones; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology*; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D004642:Emodin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D019254:Genes, bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics; D016158:Genes, p53 / Q000502:physiology*; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000737:chemistry; D015689:Oncogene Protein p21(ras) / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D018110:Receptors, Lipoprotein / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000880:Anthraquinones; D009707:Nucleosomes; D018110:Receptors, Lipoprotein; C064018:apolipoprotein A-I A-II receptor; D019014:fas Receptor; C518327:aloe emodin; D015689:Oncogene Protein p21(ras); D004642:Emodin