Chelerythrine chloride from Macleaya cordata induces growth inhibition and apoptosis in human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells

• Main Authors: Zhengfu Zhang, Ying Guo, Lingwei Zhang, Jianbin Zhang, Xionghui Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012-10-01
• Series: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
• Subjects: Macleaya cordata; Chelerythrine chloride; BGC-823 cells; Apoptosis
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383512000305
• ISSN: 2211-3835; 2211-3843

This study aimed to investigate the ability of chelerythrine chloride (CHE), the main active ingredient of Macleaya cordata, to induce apoptosis in human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. The results demonstrate that CHE inhibits cell proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner with accompanying S phase arrest. It also induces apoptosis by a mechanism involving a reduction in the mitochondrial membrane potential, the release of cytochrome c, activation of caspase 3 and cleavage of poly-ADP-ribose polymerase. In addition, CHE-induced apoptosis is accompanied by down-regulation of Bcl-xl and Bcl-2 proteins with no change in the levels of Bax proteins. Taken together, the results support the development of CHE as a potentially useful anticancer drug for the treatment of gastric cancer.