Molecular insights into the anti-cancer properties of Traditional Tibetan medicine Yukyung Karne

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Ganeshan Mathan¹  Dawa Dolma²  Vijay Kumar³  Tenzin Choedon⁴ 

[1] Department of Biomedical Science, Bharathidasan University, 620024, Tiruchirappalli, India;Tibetan Medical Astro Institute, 176215, Dharamsala, Kangra, India;Virology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, 110067, New Delhi, India;Virology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, 110067, New Delhi, India;Department of Biomedical Science, Bharathidasan University, 620024, Tiruchirappalli, India;

关键词: Yukyung Karne;    Traditional Tibetan medicine;    Ovarian cancer;    Apoptosis;    Mitochondria membrane potential;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-380

 received in 2014-03-17, accepted in 2014-10-03,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundYukyung karne (YK) is a traditional Tibetan formulation used for many centuries for the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, the pharmacological basis of its anticancer property is not well understood. In the present study, the anticancer property of YK was investigated in cell culture.MethodsThe growth inhibitory property of YK was evaluated in SKOV6, IHH, HepG2 and HEK293 cell lines using MTT assay. The pro-apoptotic activity of drug was analyzed by terminal deoxynuleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and DNA fragmentation assays. Confocal microscopy was used to show the release of cytochrome c and its co-localization with mitochondria with the help of dsRed mitotracker in SKOV6 cells. The inhibition in cell proliferation was also visualized by confocal microscopy after BrDU incorporation. The activation of tumor suppressor p53 was evaluated by Western blotting while VEGF levels in culture supernatant were measured by a colorimetric method.ResultsYK specifically and efficiently induced apoptotic killing of the human ovarian cancer SKOV6 cells as indicated by increased DNA fragmentation and nick end DNA labeling. Confocal microscopy suggested inhibition of cell proliferation and increase in cytochrome c release via perturbation in mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm). Further, YK up-regulated the expression of tumor suppressor p53 and key cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21, and inhibited VEGF secretion by cells. Interestingly, YK also exhibited a synergy with paclitaxel which is a well-known anti-cancer therapeutic drug.ConclusionsThe pharmacological properties of YK to impose growth arrest and trigger pro-apoptotic death in cells amply justify its usage in primary as well as adjunct therapy for ovarian cancer.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Choedon et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.