Author(s)

Kyu Sik Kim, Akemi Umeyama, Toshihiro Hashimoto, Hyun-Ju Cho, Je-Jung Lee, Masao Takei

Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangiu, South Korea.
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangiu, South Korea;.
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan;.
Research Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun-eup, Hwasun-gun, South Korea;.
Research Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun-eup, Hwasun-gun, South Korea; Department of Hematology-Oncology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangiu, South Korea..

Farnesyl caffeate, synthesis of propolis and polar bud excretion, has been reported to exhibit anti-allergic effects in mice. However, little is known about anti-tumor effects. In this study, we investigated the effect of Farnesyl caffeate in cell proliferation of lung carcinoma cell line (H157). Antiproliferative effect and apoptosis on H157 cell were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay (MTT) and DNA fragmentation assay, respectively. Farnesyl caffeate inhibited the growth of H157 cell in dose-dependent manner. Morphological changes of nuclei by staining Hoechst 33258 and DNA fragmentation suggested that Farnesyl caffeate induced death involved in a mechanism of apoptosis. Moreover, caspase-3, caspase-7 and caspase-9 were activated by Farnesyl caffeate on H157 cell. The protein expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 were down-regulated by Farnesyl caffeate, resulting in cytochrome c release from the mitochondria. Farnesyl caffeate significantly increased the expression of p53 proteins which indicates that p53 plays a pivotal role in the initiation phase of Farnesyl caffeate-induced HepG2 cell apoptosis. These results demonstrated Farnesyl caffeate-induced apoptosis in human lung carcinoma cell line. More detailed mechanism of  Farnesyl caffeate-induced H157 apoptosis remains to be elucidated.

 

Apoptosis; Propolis; Farnesyl Caffeate; DNA Fragmentation; Lung Cancer

K. Kim, A. Umeyama, T. Hashimoto, H. Cho, J. Lee and M. Takei, "Effect of Farnesyl Caffeate-Induced Apoptosis of Lung Carcinoma Cell Line from Damage to DNA," Pharmacology & Pharmacy, Vol. 4 No. 9, 2013, pp. 689-695. doi: 10.4236/pp.2013.49096.