title: Cucurbitacin B inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis via STAT3 pathway inhibition in A549 lung cancer cells.
abstract: Natural products are a great source of cancer chemotherapeutic agents. The present study was conducted to investigate whether cucurbitacin B (CuB), one of the most potent and widely used cucurbitacins, inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in the A549 lung cancer cell line. Furthermore, CuB induced apoptosis of A549 cells in a -concentration-dependent manner, as determined by fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy. The present study also demonstrated that CuB dose-dependently inhibited lung cancer cell proliferation, with cell cycle inhibition and cyclin B1 downregulation. Apoptosis induced by CuB was shown to be associated with cytochrome c release, B-cell lymphoma 2 downregulation and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway inhibition. CuB may prove to be a useful approach for the chemotherapy of lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jia-He
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hui-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D056744:Cyclin B1 / Q000378:metabolism; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D056744:Cyclin B1; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human; D014315:Triterpenes; C041246:cucurbitacin B; D045304:Cytochromes c