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Effect of a fermented ginseng extract, BST204, on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in murine macrophages.

Seo JY, Lee JH, Kim NW, Her E, Chang SH, Ko NY, Yoo YH, Kim JW, Seo DW, Han JW, Kim YM, Choi WS

Department of Immunology, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Chungju 380-701, South Korea.

This paper investigates how BST204, a fermented ginseng extract, affects the expression and mechanism of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). BST204 was prepared by incubating crude ginseng extract with ginsenoside-beta-glucosidase. Unexpectedly, BST204 had no effect on the level of COX-2 protein in unstimulated RAW 264.7 cells, and it suppressed the level of COX-2 protein and PGE(2) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. It did not show any suppressive effect, though, on the COX-2 mRNA level. To investigate the suppressive mechanism of COX-2 protein, the activating phosphorylation of p70 S6 kinase and 4E-BP1, which are important for translation, were measured. The phosphorylation of p70 S6 kinase, not 4E-BP1, was increased by LPS in a time-dependent manner, and was inhibited by BST204 in a dose-dependent manner. The expression of COX-2 protein, however, was partially suppressed by rapamycin, an upstream inhibitor of p70 S6 kinase. Therefore, this paper suggests that the suppression of COX-2 protein by BST204 was partially correlated with the inhibition of p70 S6 kinase activation.

Published 21 March 2005 in Int Immunopharmacol, 5(5): 929-36.
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