Anticancer Properties of Global Sorghum bicolor Seed Extracts via Apoptosis-Related Gene Regulation in Human Cancer Cells

• Published in: 농업생명환경연구, 37(2) pp. 76 - 85
• Main Authors: 함다예, 서지원, 최홍주, 박지우, 이재근, 김나영, 유창연, 성은수
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 농업생명과학연구원 01.06.2025
• Subjects: 농학
• ISSN: 2233-8322; 2508-870X

Sorghum is a crop with various biological activities, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as it contains abundant phenolic substances. In this study, the apoptotic effects of sorghum seed extracts collected from foreign regions on AGS and HCT116 cancer cells were evaluated. Cell viability was tested using the MTT assay, and morphological analysis was performed using a microscope. In addition, the mRNA expression levels of Bax/Bcl-2, Caspase-9, and Caspase-3 were analyzed using real-time PCR. According to the MTT analysis, when AGS cells were treated with the K159042 sorghum extract, the survival rate was the lowest at 5.2%, and when applied to HCT116 cells, the K159081 sorghum extract showed the lowest cell survival rate of 7.2%. Morphological analysis of sorghum seed extract-treated AGS and HCT116 cells showed that extracts of K159041, K159042, K159081, K159088, K159089, K159093, K159096, K159097, and K159100, but not K159048, K159077, and K159078, induced apoptosis. Analysis of the mRNA expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-9, and Caspase-3 showed that the sorghum resource with the highest Bax/Bcl-2 expression level in AGS cells was K159078, whereas K159081 and K159089 showed the highest expression levels of Caspase-9 and Caspase-3, respectively. In HCT116 cells, Bax/Bcl-2 expression was the highest under K159088, Caspase-9 expression was the highest under K159100, and Caspase-3 expression was the highest under K159093. These findings demonstrate that several sorghum seed extracts, particularly K159081, K159088, and K159093, significantly induced apoptosis via upregulation of Bax/Bcl-2 and caspases in AGS and HCT116 cells. Thus, the study successfully identified sorghum lines with potent anticancer potential, providing a basis for further phytochemical and mechanistic studies. KCI Citation Count: 0