Abstract-The potential cancer preventive effects of water and ethanolic extracts of three new jujube cultivars were examined in HepG2 and Jurkat cancer cell lines. Apoptosis induction was detected from alteration of nuclei morphology via DAPI staining, and apoptosis death mode was detected via Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide fluorescence flow cytometry. Results showed that ethanolic jujube seed extracts exhibited antiproliferation only in the Jurkat cell line. Cultivar Taiwan exerted high antiproliferation effect (IC 50 =232.4±7.8 µg/ml) > Jumbo (IC 50 =312.0±18.3 µg/ml) > Rianthong (IC 50 =401.6±9.9 µg/ml), respectively (p<0.05). Melphalan (a positive control) exhibited significant antiproliferation in both HepG2 (IC 50 =37.5±3.9 µg/ml), and Jurkat cell lines (IC 50 =119.1±10.4 µg/ml) but also had cytotoxic effect on the normal Vero cell line (IC 50 =75.0±2.3 µg/ml). Cancer is the severe chronic disease that is found worldwide with increasingly high rate of morbidity and mortality [16]. Therefore, it is of interest to search for cancer preventive agent from natural source. One preferable pharmacodynamic endpoint for cancer treatment is via inducing apoptotic cell death [17]. Hence, apoptosis induction is the primary goal of chemotherapy. Apoptosis is the cell mechanism that balances between cancer cell proliferation and damage irreparable cell including damage DNA. Then, dead cells are phagocytosed by macrophages. The advantage of this death mode does not lead to inflammation in neighboring cells as same as necrosis [17].According to the reports of biological activity of jujubes and new cultivars of Thai jujubes have been cross-bred, this study was aimed to investigate the apoptosis induction effect of the jujube seed extract of three jujube cultivars (i.e., Rianthong, Jumbo and Taiwan) against the human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 and human leukemic Jurkat cell lines compared to the normal African green monkey kidney Vero cells.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. Plant Materials and ReagentsThe jujube fruits cultivars Rianthong (R), Taiwan (T) and Jumbo (J) were purchased from local markets in Khon Kaen, Thailand in 2012. The Jumbo and Taiwan cultivars are the result of a cross between Z. mauritiana and Z. jujuba, but cultivar (Rianthong) remains unidentified. The cell culture media and fetal bovine serum were purchased from GIBCO, Invitrogen Corporation (USA.). Neutral red dye was purchased from Sigma Chemicals Co. (USA), and melphalan (mel; an apoptosis induction positive control) was bought from Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH (Germany). Apoptotic detection kit was bought from eBiosciences (USA).
Apoptosis Induction Effect of Three Jujube Cultivars inHepG2 and Jurkat Cell Lines Natthanan Taechakulwanijya, Natthida Weerapreeyakul, Sahapat Barusrux, and Sirithorn SiriamornpunInternational Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 3, No. 6, November 2013