Aralin, a new cytotoxic protein from Aralia elata, inducing apoptosis in human cancer cells.
In this study, we purified a novel cytotoxic protein, aralin, from the shoots of Aralia elata. Aralin is composed of two subunits, A and B chains whose molecular weights are 29,100 and 32,200, respectively. In the assay using a normal human lung fibroblast cells (WI-38) and its SV40-transformed cells (VA-13), aralin demonstrated selective cytotoxicity against the virus-transformed cell line; the IC50 values of WI-38 and VA-13 were 10 and 0.8 ng/ml, respectively. Aralin showed positive response to DNA fragmentation in human lymphocyte HL-60 cells, and caspase specific inhibitors suppressed aralin-induced DNA fragmentation. These results indicate that the cytotoxicity of aralin is brought about primarily through the induction of apoptosis. Aralin also exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against various types of human cancer cell lines; cervical carcinoma cells (HeLa) proved the most sensitive, with an IC50 value of 0.08 ng/ml.
Tomatsu
Makoto
M
Akita Research Institute of Food and Brewing (ARIF), 4-26 Sanuki, Araya-machi, Akita 010-1623, Japan. tomatsu@arif.pref.akita.jp
Ohnishi-Kameyama
Mayumi
M
Shibamoto
Norio
N
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D027983:Aralia / Q000737:chemistry*; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral / Q000187:drug effects; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000737:chemistry; D021122:Protein Subunits; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010940:Plant Proteins; D021122:Protein Subunits; C478146:aralin protein, A elata