Euphorbia formosana Root Extract Induces Apoptosis by Caspase-Dependent Cell Death via Fas and Mitochondrial Pathway in THP-1 Human Leukemic Cells

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a very rare type of cancer, generally affects patients over 50 years old. While clinical drugs to treat advanced stages of AML exist, the disease becomes increasingly resistant to therapies. Euphorbia formosana Hayata (EF) is a native Taiwanese medicinal plant used to treat rheumatism, liver cirrhosis, herpes zoster, scabies, and photoaging, along with tumor suppression. However, the mechanisms by OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2013, 18 1950 which it suppresses tumors have not been explored. Here, we provide molecular evidence that a hot-water extract of Euphorbia formosana (EFW) selectively inhibited the growth of human leukemic cancer cells more than other solid human cancer cell lines. Most importantly, the plant extract had limited toxicity toward healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). After THP-1 leukemic cells were treated with 50-100 µg/mL EFW for one day, the S phase DNA content of the cells increased, while treatment with 200-400 µg/mL caused the cells to accumulate in the G0/G1 phase. Notably, EFW did not affect A-549 lung cancer cells. The effectiveness of EFW against THP-1 cells may be through caspase-dependent apoptosis in leukemic cells, which is mediated through the Fas and mitochondrial pathways. The potent antileukemic activity of EFW in vitro warrants further investigation of this plant to treat leukemias and other malignancies.

LukS-PV, a component of Panton-Valentine leukocidin, exerts potent activity against acute myeloid leukemia in vitro and in vivo

“…Mitochondria play a central role in apoptosis. Several studies have shown that toxin and natural products could induce leukemia cell apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway (Hsieh et al, 2013;Lee et al, 2005;Salim et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2012). The results presented in this study also indicate that the mitochondrial pathway is involved in the apoptotic process induced by LukS-PV in HL-60 cells.…”

Enriched Terpenes Fractions of the Latex of Euphorbia umbellata Promote Apoptosis in Leukemic Cells

“…This effect has been observed for the hexane extract of the latex from E. umbellata and other matrices obtained from Euphorbia species, against leukemia cell lineages. [10,12,14,25,26] The cell cycle analysis demonstrated that the treatment with Dcm increased S and G2/M population (compared with the negative control), as observed to doxorubicin ( Figure 4). Similar data already demonstrated the same effect of doxorubicin in HL-60 cell and some lymphoma cell line cycle, showing an increase of S and G2/M phase cell population, which appears to be related with the upregulation of cyclin B1 and cyclin A2, and expression of topoisomerase IIα.…”

Inhibition of human glioma cell proliferation by altered Bax/Bcl-2-p53 expression and apoptosis induction by Rhaponticum carthamoides extracts from transformed and normal roots

“…Extracts from plants and their secondary metabolites particularly alkaloids, polyphenolics and terpenoids exhibit anticancer activity by the inhibition of cell proliferation, blocking cell cycle and increasing apoptosis in cancer cells . The plants are inexpensive, easily available and low or absolutely non‐toxic in cancer therapy . Rhaponticum carthamoides (Willd.)…”