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Research Paper
Furanodiene Induces G2/M Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis Through MAPK Signaling and Mitochondria-Caspase Pathway in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells
Yu Xiao, Yang Feng-Qing, Li Shao-Ping, Gao Jian-Li, Hu Guang, Lao Sin-Cheng, Conceição Leong Emilia, Fung Kwok-Pui, Wang Yi-Tao and Lee Ming-Yuen Simon
volume 6 | issue 7
July 2007Pages: 1044 - 1050
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Furanodiene (C15H20O), a pure compound isolated from Traditional Chinese medicine, Curcuma wenyujin, named Ezhu in Chinese, which structure was determined on the basis of NMR, MS and UV spectrum. In this study, we attempted to characterize in detail the signaling cascades resulted from furanodiene-induced apoptosis in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. Furanodiene inhibited HepG2 cell growth by causing cell cycle arrest at G2/M and inducing apoptosis as evidenced by DNA fragmentation assay. We found that furanodiene induced mitochondrial transmembrane depolarization, release of mitochondrial cytochrome c, activation of caspases-3 and the cleavage of PARP. The furanodiene mediated mitochondria-caspase apoptotic pathway also involved activation of p38 and inhibition of ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. These results for the first time have identified the biological activity of furanodiene against HepG2 cells and provide rationales for further development of essential oil of Ezhu and its ingredients such as furanodiene on treatment of liver diseases.
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDFIf the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.