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Alteration of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio contributes to Terminalia belerica-induced apoptosis in human lung and breast carcinoma

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Abstract

The objective of the present study was to assess the in vitro anticancer activity of 70% methanolic extract of Terminalia belerica (TBME) against human lung (A549) and human breast (MCF-7) carcinoma and its possible mechanism. TBME showed significant cytotoxicity to both A549 and MCF-7 cells, whereas, no cytotoxicity was found in non-malignant WI-38 cells. Flow cytometric analysis was then performed and 100 μg/ml of TBME was selected as the effective concentration inducing apoptosis in A549 and MCF-7. At this concentration, TBME caused DNA fragmentation pattern of apoptosis. Furthermore, mechanism of apoptosis induction was demonstrated using western blotting and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in both types of the cells was found increased, which leads to the activation of caspase cascade along with the cleavage of PARP. These results suggested that TBME is able to induce anticancer effects on both lung and breast cancer cell lines through the modulation of Bcl-2 family proteins.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Ranjit K. Das and Mr. Pradip K. Mallick for their technical assistance.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Medicine, Bose Institute, P-1/12 C. I. T. Scheme VII M, Kolkata, 700054, India

    Nikhil Baban Ghate, Bibhabasu Hazra, Rhitajit Sarkar, Dipankar Chaudhuri & Nripendranath Mandal

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  1. Nikhil Baban Ghate
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  2. Bibhabasu Hazra
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  3. Rhitajit Sarkar
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  4. Dipankar Chaudhuri
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  5. Nripendranath Mandal
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Correspondence to Nripendranath Mandal.

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Editor: T. Okamoto

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Ghate, N.B., Hazra, B., Sarkar, R. et al. Alteration of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio contributes to Terminalia belerica-induced apoptosis in human lung and breast carcinoma. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 50, 527–537 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-013-9726-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-013-9726-x

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