title: MiR-181a contributes to bufalin-induced apoptosis in PC-3 prostate cancer cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bufalin is a major active compound of cinobufacini, which comes from dried toad venom and has been used for treatments of various cancers in China for many years. A number of studies have demonstrated that bufalin can induce apoptosis in some cancers. However, effects and mechanism of bufalin on prostate cancer cells remain unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  Apoptosis assay was measured by the annexin-V/PI flow cytometric assay. Western blot was used to measure Caspase-3 and Bcl-2. qRT-PCR was used to measure the relative expression of miR-181a.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bufalin was found to induce the expression of miR-181a, a small non-coding RNA believed to induce apoptosis by repressing its target gene, BCL-2. In prostate cancer PC-3cell line, bufalin-induced apoptosis can be largely attenuated by a miR-181a inhibitor, which blocked bufalin-induced Bcl-2 reduction and caspase-3 activation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our dataindicatedthat miR-181a mediates bufalin-induced apoptosis in PC-3 cells. Thus, we presented here a new pharmacological mechanism for bufalin in anti-tumor therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Oncology, Changhai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China. chenzhech@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiao-feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Fan-fu
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yong-bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Yu-yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D002018:Bufanolides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002018:Bufanolides; C540193:MIrn181 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D053148:Caspase 3; C022777:bufalin