Anticancer effect of joboksansam, Korean wild ginseng germinated from bird feces.
BACKGROUND
Joboksansam, Korean bird wild ginseng, is an artificially cultivated wild ginseng germinated from bird feces. Although numerous pharmacologic activities of wild ginsengs have been reported, the beneficial effect of joboksansam in cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the in vivo and in vitro anticancer activities of joboksansam powder.


METHODS
To evaluate the in vivo anticancer activity of joboksansam, we established a xenograft mouse model bearing RMA cell-derived cancer. Direct cytotoxicity induced by joboksansam powder was also investigated in vitro using (3-4-5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2-5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The inhibitory activity of this powder on the activation of cell survival signaling involving Akt and Src was examined with immunoblot analysis.


RESULTS
Joboksansam powder displayed strong inhibitory activity against the increased tumor size, increased weight of total body and cancer tissues, and mortality of tumor-bearing mice. Joboksansam powder also suppressed the activation of survival regulatory enzymes Akt and Src, as assessed by phosphorylation levels in the immunoblot analysis of tumor tissues. Interestingly, the viability of RMA cells in vitro was directly decreased by joboksansam treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, our results strongly suggest that joboksansam powder has the potential to protect against cancer generation by direct cytotoxic effects on cancer cells resulting from suppression of cell survival signaling.
Department of Genetic Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea.
Jae Gwang
JG
Park
Korea Bird Wild Ginseng Co., Namyangju, Korea.
Wie-Soo
WS
Kang
School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
Kyung Tae
KT
Park
School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
Dong Jun
DJ
Park
Department of Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonbuk National University, Iksan, Korea.
Adithan
A
Aravinthan
Department of Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonbuk National University, Iksan, Korea.
Jong-Hoon
JH
Kim
Department of Genetic Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea.
Jae Youl
JY
Cho
Panax ginseng; anticancer activity; cytotoxicity; joboksansam; survival enzyme