title: Glioblastoma cell death induced by asiatic acid.
abstract: Asiatic acid (AA), a triterpene, is known to be cytotoxic to several tumor cell lines. AA induces dose- and time-dependent cell death in U-87 MG human glioblastoma. This cell death occurs via both apoptosis and necrosis. The effect of AA may be cell type-specific as AA-induced cell death was mainly apoptotic in colon cancer RKO cells. AA-induced glioblastoma cell death is associated with decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-9 and -3, and increased intracellular free Ca2+. Although treatment of glioblastoma cells with the caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk completely abolished AA-induced caspase activation, it did not significantly block AA-induced cell death. AA-induced cell death was significantly prevented by an intracellular Ca2+ inhibitor, BAPTA/AM. Taken together, these results indicate that AA induces cell death by both apoptosis and necrosis, with Ca2+-mediated necrotic cell death predominating.
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Cardone
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sinskey
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rha
mesh_terms: D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones / Q000494:pharmacology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D004533:Egtazic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial / Q000187:drug effects; D009336:Necrosis / Q000139:chemically induced*; D053978:Pentacyclic Triterpenes; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D002614:Chelating Agents; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; D053978:Pentacyclic Triterpenes; D014315:Triterpenes; C096713:benzyloxycarbonylvalyl-alanyl-aspartyl fluoromethyl ketone; C070379:1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester; D004533:Egtazic Acid; C017032:asiatic acid; D053148:Caspase 3; D053453:Caspase 9; D002118:Calcium