The chloroform fraction of the folk Chinese medicine, Serratulae chinensis S. Moore (CSC) and its anti-inflammatory activity is well recognized. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial anticancer effects of CSC remain largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of CSC on the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis in SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells, as well as to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms involved. The results from the present study demonstrated that CSC treatment inhibited SGC-7901 cell viability and survival in a dose- and/or time-dependent manner. CSC treatment further induced the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells, characterized by distinct chromatin condensation and fragmented nuclear morphology. In addition, CSC treatment suppressed protein kinase-B (Akt) phosphorylation and phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) expression in SGC-7901 cells, which in turn promoted cancer cell apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation. Furthermore, CSC treatment altered the expression pattern of several key target genes of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway through the downregulation of Cyclin D1, cyclin-dependent kinase-4 and B-cell lymphoma-2 and the upregulation of Bcl-2-associated X protein. Therefore, the results from the present study demonstrated that CSC suppressed cell survival and induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells, via targeting the PI3K/Akt pathway.
Keywords: Serratulae chinensis; apoptosis; gastric cancer; phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase-B pathway; proliferation.