title: 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3 promotes apoptosis in human ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells through PI3K/Akt and XIAP pathways.
abstract: Ovarian cancer is a serious tumor which represents a great threat to women's health. Recently, researchers had found that 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3 could inhibit growth of several cancer cell lines; however, the mechanism is not fully understood so far. In the present study, we found that 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3 reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner in the human ovarian cancer cells HO-8910. The induction of apoptosis was accompanied by downregulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt family proteins and inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family proteins. 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3 treatment resulted in activation of caspase-3 and -9, which may partly explain the anti-cancer activity of 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3. Taken together, our study for the first time suggests that 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3 is able to enhance apoptosis of HO-8910 cells, at least in part, through downregulation of PI3K/Akt and IAP family proteins. Moreover, the triggering of caspase-3 and -9 activation mediated apoptotic induction. Our data indicate that 20(s)-ginsenoside Rg3 is an effective apoptosis-inducing natural compound in ovarian cancer cells and may have a role in future therapies for ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110004, People's Republic of China, cmuwjh@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Jia-He
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian-Fei
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Nao
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D036145:Ginsenosides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D051636:X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D036145:Ginsenosides; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051636:X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein; C097367:ginsenoside Rg3; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D053148:Caspase 3; D053453:Caspase 9