The aminoethyl-chitooligosaccharide (AE-COS) was reported to inhibit human gastric cancer cell proliferation and human fibrosarcoma cell invasion. In this study, the role of AE-COS in down-regulation of proliferation of human lung A549 cancer cells was evaluated. It was found that AE-COS was able to reduce A549 cell proliferation to (32 ± 1.3)% at a concentration of 500 µg/ml. Moreover, AE-COS treatment caused suppression on COX-2 expression in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, the role of AE-COS in induction of cell apoptosis was observed via decreasing Bcl-2 expression and increasing caspase-3 and -9 activation. Accordingly, the antiproliferative effect of AE-COS was indicated due to suppression of cell proliferation and induction of cell apoptosis, suggesting AE-COS as a promising chemotherapy agent for treatment of lung cancer.
Keywords: A549 cells; apoptosis; caspase-3; chitooligosaccharide; proliferation.