TY - JOUR
T1 - Activation of caspase-3 protease via a Bcl-2-insensitive pathway during the process of ginsenoside Rh2-induced apoptosis
AU - Park, Jeong Ae
AU - Lee, Kwang Youl
AU - Oh, Young J.
AU - Kim, Kyu Won
AU - Lee, Seung Ki
PY - 1997/12/16
Y1 - 1997/12/16
N2 - We have demonstrated that ginsenoside Rh2 (G-Rh2), a ginseng saponin with a dammarane skeleton, induces apoptosis of human hepatoma SK-HEP-1 cells as evidenced by analyses of DNA fragmentation, flow cytometry and changes in cell morphology. Ac-YVAD-CMK or Ac-DEVD-CHO effectively prevented G-Rh2-induced DNA fragmentation, indicating the involvement of caspase-like proteases in the process of apoptosis. In addition, G-Rh2 induced the processing of caspase-3 to an active form, p17. In stable Bcl-2 transfectants, G-Rh2 also induced DNA fragmentation, while staurosporine-induced DNA fragmentation was totally blocked. As it did in wild-type cells, G-Rh2 induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 protease and subsequent cleavage of PARP in the bcl-2 transfectants. In summary, G-Rh2 contains an apoptotic inducing activity SK-HEP-1 cells which functions via Bcl-2-insensitive activation of caspase-3, followed by proteolytic cleavage of PARP.
AB - We have demonstrated that ginsenoside Rh2 (G-Rh2), a ginseng saponin with a dammarane skeleton, induces apoptosis of human hepatoma SK-HEP-1 cells as evidenced by analyses of DNA fragmentation, flow cytometry and changes in cell morphology. Ac-YVAD-CMK or Ac-DEVD-CHO effectively prevented G-Rh2-induced DNA fragmentation, indicating the involvement of caspase-like proteases in the process of apoptosis. In addition, G-Rh2 induced the processing of caspase-3 to an active form, p17. In stable Bcl-2 transfectants, G-Rh2 also induced DNA fragmentation, while staurosporine-induced DNA fragmentation was totally blocked. As it did in wild-type cells, G-Rh2 induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 protease and subsequent cleavage of PARP in the bcl-2 transfectants. In summary, G-Rh2 contains an apoptotic inducing activity SK-HEP-1 cells which functions via Bcl-2-insensitive activation of caspase-3, followed by proteolytic cleavage of PARP.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0304-3835(97)00333-9
DO - 10.1016/S0304-3835(97)00333-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 9459177
AN - SCOPUS:0030777703
SN - 0304-3835
VL - 121
SP - 73
EP - 81
JO - Cancer Letters
JF - Cancer Letters
IS - 1
ER -