S-benzyl-cysteine-mediated Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis Involving Activation of Mitochondrial-dependent Caspase Cascade through the p53 Pathway in Human Gastric Cancer SGC-7901 Cells

Abstract

S-benzyl-cysteine (SBC) is a structural analog of S-allylcysteine (SAC), which is one of the major watersoluble compounds in aged garlic extract. In this study, anticancer activities and the underlying mechanisms of SBC action were investigated and compared these with those of SAC using human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. SBC significantly suppressed the survival rate of SGC-7901 cells in a concentration-and time-dependent manner, and the inhibitory activities of SBC were stronger than those of SAC. Flow cytometry revealed that SBC induced G2-phase arrest and apoptosis in SGC-7901 cells. Typical apoptotic morphological changes were observed by Hoechst 33258 dye assay. SBC-treatment dramatically induced the dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and enhanced the enzymatic activities of caspase-9 and caspase-3 whilst hardly affecting caspase-8 activity. Furthermore, Western blotting indicated that SBC-induced apoptosis was accompanied by up-regulation of the expression of p53, Bax and the down-regulation of Bcl-2. Taken together, this study suggested that SBC exerts cytotoxic activity involving activation of mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis through p53 and Bax/Bcl-2 pathways in human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells.

Knockdown of Glutamate Cysteine Ligase Catalytic Subunit by siRNA Causes the Gold Nanoparticles-Induced Cytotoxicity in Lung Cancer Cells

“…Mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis is initiated by recruitment and activation of caspase [ 36 ]. Thus, we further ask whether caspase-3 is activated during GNPs induced apoptosis in GCLC siRNA treated cells.…”

Rice Bran Phytic Acid Induced Apoptosis Through Regulation of Bcl-2/Bax and p53 Genes in HepG2 Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

“…However, Bcl-2 gene product acts as an anti-apoptotic agent by binding and antagonising with executioner molecules, such as Bax and Bak (Youle and Strasser, 2008). The p53 expression leads to increase in p53 protein concentration which ultimately enhances the expression of Bax gene which is probably associated with further activation of pro-caspase genes (Youle and Strasser, 2008;Sun et al, 2013). On the similar lines, Hassan et al (2013) reported that the p53 gene is a negative regulator of Bcl-2 gene and acts as a transcriptional activator of the Bax gene.…”

Aged garlic and cancer: A systematic review

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