Colorectal Cancer
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2005. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 14, 2005; 11(30): 4674-4678
Published online Aug 14, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i30.4674
Anticancer effects of oligomeric proanthocyanidins on human colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4
Youn-Jung Kim, Hae-Jeong Park, Seo-Hyun Yoon, Mi-Ja Kim, Kang-Hyun Leem, Joo-Ho Chung, Hye-Kyung Kim
Youn-Jung Kim, Department of Dental Hygiene, Hanseo University, Seosan, South Korea
Hae-Jeong Park, Seo-Hyun Yoon, Joo-Ho Chung, Department of Pharmacology, Kohwang Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
Mi-Ja Kim, Department of Obesity Management, Graduate School of Obesity Science, Dongduk Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea Kang-Hyun Leem, College of Oriental Medicine, Semyung University, Jecheon, South Korea
Hye-Kyung Kim, Department of Food and Biotechnology, Hanseo University, Seosan, South Korea
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Hye-Kyung Kim, Department of Food and Biotechnology, Hanseo University, Seosan 356-705, South Korea. hkkim111@hanseo.ac.kr
Telephone: +82-41-660-1454 Fax: +82-41-660-1119
Received: September 18, 2004
Revised: October 3, 2004
Accepted: October 8, 2004
Published online: August 14, 2005
Abstract

AIM: Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC), natural polyphenolic compounds found in plants, are known to have antioxidant and anti-cancer effects. We investigated whether the anti-cancer effects of the OPC are induced by apoptosis on human colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4.

METHODS: Colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4 was cultured in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. The cytotoxic effect of OPC was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenylt-etrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. To find out the apoptotic cell death, 4, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and caspase-3 enzyme assay were performed.

RESULTS: In this study, cytotoxic effect of OPC on SNU-C4 cells appeared in a dose-dependent manner. OPC treatment (100 µg/mL) revealed typical morphological apoptotic features. Additionally OPC treatment (100 µg/mL) increased level of BAX and CASPASE-3, and decreased level of BCL-2 mRNA expression. Caspase-3 enzyme activity was also significantly increased by treatment of OPC (100 µg/mL) compared with control.

CONCLUSION: These data indicate that OPC caused cell death by apoptosis through caspase pathways on human colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4.

Keywords: Oligomeric pranthocyanidins, Apoptosis, Anticancer effects, Colorectal cancer