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Anti-proliferation and apoptosis induced by a novel intestinal metabolite of ginseng saponin in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Ming YL, Song G, Chen LH, Zheng ZZ, Chen ZY, Ouyang GL, Tong QX

The Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Cell Biology and Tumor Cell Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China.

20-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-20(S)-protopanaxadiol (IH-901), a novel intestinal bacterial metabolite of ginseng protopanaxadiol saponins, is reported to induce apoptosis in a variety of cancer cells. We purified the compound and measured its in vitro anti-tumor activity. IH-901 inhibited cell growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC7721 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. We also found that IH-901 induced apoptotic cell death concurrent with cell cycle arrest in G0-G1 phase in SMMC7721 cells. At the molecular level, we show that IH-901 upregulates cytochrome c, p53, and Bax expression, and downregulates pro-caspase-3 and pro-caspase-9 expressions in a dose-dependent manner, while the levels of Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L) were unchanged in IH-901-treated SMMC7721 cells. These results provide significant insight into the anticarcinogenic action of IH-901.

Published 13 July 2007 in Cell Biol Int, 31(10): 1265-73.
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