REGULAR ARTICLES

Cell Research (2004); 14(3): 188-196

Induction of antiproliferative effect by diosgenin through activation of p53, release of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and modulation of caspase-3 activity in different human cancer cells

Cecile CoRBIERE¹, Bertrand LIAGRE¹, Faraj TERRO², Jean-Louis BENEYTOUT¹

¹Laboratoire de Biochimie, UPRES EA 1085, Faculté de Pharmacie, 2 rue du Docteur Marcland, 87025 Limoges       Cedex, France.
²Service d'Histologie et Biologie Cellulaire, Faculté de Médecine, 2 rue du Docteur Marcland, 87025 Limoges Cedex,  France.

Received, Dec 16, 2003     Revised, Jan 25, 2004     Accepted, Mar 5, 2004

Correspondence: Bertrand Liagre +33-555-43-58-39 (phone) +33-555-43-58-39 (fax) bertrand.liagre@unilim.fr

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Abstract

Previously, we demonstrated that a plant steroid, diosgenin, altered cell cycle distribution and induced apoptosis in the human osteosarcoma 1547 cell line. The objective of this study was to investigate if the antiproliferative effect of diosgenin was similar for different human cancer cell lines such as laryngocarcinoma HEp-2 and melanoma M4Beu cells. Moreover, this work essentially focused on the mitochondrial pathway. We found that diosgenin had an important and similar antiproliferative effect on different types of cancer cells. In addition, our new results show that diosgenin-induced apoptosis is caspase-3 dependent with a fall of mitochondrial membrane potential, nuclear localization of AIF and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. Diosgenin treatment also induces p53 activation and cell cycle arrest in the different cell lines studied.

Keywords: diosgenin, apoptosis, p53, AIF, caspase, cancer cells.