Pseudolaric Acid B Induces Apoptosis Through p53 and Bax/Bcl-2 Pathways in Human Melanoma A375-S2 Cells

• Published in: Archives of pharmacal research Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 68 - 72
• Main Authors: Gong Xian-Feng, Wang Min-Wei, Tashiro Shin-Ichi, Onodera Satoshi, Ikejima Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 대한약학회 2005
• Subjects: 약학; A375-S2; Pseudolaric acid B; Apoptosis
• ISSN: 0253-6269; 1976-3786

Pseudolaric acid B is a major compound found in the bark of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gordon. In our study, pseudolaric acid B inhibited growth of human melanoma cells, A375-S2 in a time and dose-dependent manner. A375-S2 cells treated with pseudolaric acid B showed typical characteristics of apoptosis including morphologic changes, DNA fragmentation, sub-diploid peak in flow cytometry, cleavage of poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) and degradation of inhibitor of caspase-activated DNase (ICAD). P53 protein expression was upregulated while cells were arrested at the $G_2/M$ phase of the cell cycle. There was a decrease in the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL proteins, whereas pro-apoptotic Bax was increased. The two classical caspase substrates, PARP and ICAD, were both decreased in a time-dependent manner, indicating the activation of downstream caspases.