title: Anti-cancer effects of Kochia scoparia fruit in human breast cancer cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The fruit of Kochia scoparia Scharder is widely used as a medicinal ingredient for the treatment of dysuria and skin diseases in China, Japan and Korea. Especially, K. scoparia had been used for breast masses and chest and flank pain.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the anti-cancer effect of K. scoparia on breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the anti-cancer effects of K. scoparia, methanol extract (MEKS) in vitro. We examined the effects of MEKS on the proliferation rate, cell cycle arrest, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and activation of apoptosis-associated proteins in MDA-MB-231, human breast cancer cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MTT assay results demonstrated that MEKS decreased the proliferation rates of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 36.2 μg/ml. MEKS at 25 μg/ml significantly increased the sub-G1 DNA contents of MDA-MB-231 cells to 44.7%, versus untreated cells. In addition, MEKS induced apoptosis by increasing the levels of apoptosis-associated proteins such as cleaved caspase 3, cleaved caspase 8, cleaved caspase 9 and cleaved Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that MEKS inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells and that MEKS may have potential chemotherapeutic value for the treatment of human breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Institute of Translational Dental Sciences, Gyeongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Yeon
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacology, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Gyeongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyungwoo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacology, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Gyeongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Hae
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Son
authors.affiliation: Department of Herbology, College of Korean Medicine, Wonkwang University, Jeonbuk, Korea.
authors.forename: Guemsan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Dental Research Institute, Pusan National University, Gyeongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Institute of Translational Dental Sciences, Gyeongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi Heon
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ryu
keywords: Apoptosis; Kochia scoparia; breast cancer; cancer therapy; reactive oxygen species