Background
:Gleditsin is a herb medicine from extracted by Gleditschia spina. In oder to investigate anticancer effects of gleditsin in human various breast cancer cells, we tested with gleditsin on cytotoxicity of materials, observed to cell survival and cell cycle progression, and analyzed in starvation condition.
Materials and Methods:The cytoxicity and cell cycle progression were analyzed in human breast cells, MCF-10A and human breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-361, and MDA-MB-435. IC50s of breast cancer cell lines were measured by MTT assay. The cell cycle were showed by flow cytometric analysis in cells treated with gleditsin. We analyzed DNA content of sub-Go/G1 phase, it was detected apoptosis.
Results
:Cell survivals were decreased in a dose-dependent manner by the treatment of cells with gleditsin. IC50s were 4.11-fold higher in MDA-MB-435, 2.53-fold higher in MDAMB- 231, and 2.55-fold higher in MDA-MB-361 than in normal breast cells. Flow cytometric analysis showed that sub-G0/G1 fractions in cancer cells treated with gleditsin were higher than that normal cells, suggesting that increases in cytotoxicity of cancer cells by gleditsin were resulted from apoptosis. Cell cycle progression was also changed by the treatment of gleditsin. The treatments of gleditsin resulted in a decrease in G1 phase and an increase in G2/M phase in normal breast cells as well as cancer cell lines. Apoptotic cell death was synergistically increased by cell starvation and gleditsin treatments in cancer cells. MDAMB- 435 cells were more sensitive to apoptotic cell death by gleditsin than other cells.
Conclusion
:An anti-tumor effect of gleditsin was selectively higher in hman breast cancer cells than in normal human breast cells, and was mediated by apoptotic cell death.