THE EFFECTS OF ARTONIN E ON CELL GROWTH INHIBITIONAND APOPTOSIS INDUCTION IN COLON CANCER LoVo CELLS

Abstract

Nowadays, colon cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women. In Thailand, colon cancer is in the third rank of cancer among men and the second rank of cancer among women. Currently, the treatments of colon cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted drug therapy and stem cell therapy. However, some treatments had side-effects for cancer patients with unwanted symptoms. In addition, targeted therapy comes with a high cost for patients. Therefore, bioactive compounds might be a good choice for colon cancer treatment. In this study, the effects of artonin E on cytotoxic induction in colon cancer LoVo cells by MTT assay were investigated. In addition, nuclear morphological changes and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) were determined by Hoechst 33342 staining and JC-1 staining (fluorescence dye) respectively. The cell cycle distribution was determined by flow cytometry. In order to examine the expression of mediator proteins, Western blot analysis was carried out. The results showed that artonin E decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner and induced apoptotic bodies. In addition, artonin E stimulated mitochondrial membrane potential changes until damage, as well as increased sub-G1 population in the cell cycle. The Western blot test showed that artonin E induced apoptosis via p-ERK1/2/ERK1/2, p-p38/p38, and p-c-Jun/c-Jun ratio expression in LoVo cells. The results suggested that artonin E induced apoptosis through MAPKs signaling pathway. Therefore, artonin E might be used as a potential anticancer drug for colon cancer in the future.

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