ArticleActa pharmacologica Sinica2014
Abrus agglutinin suppresses human hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro and in vivo by inducing caspase-mediated cell death.
Article in Acta pharmacologica Sinica, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Applications of Plant Lectins in Detection and Targeted Therapy of Urological Cancers.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Review
- Antimicrobial Plant Peptides: Structure, Classification, Mechanism and Therapeutic Potential.Current topics in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Exploring two tumor treatment strategies: effectiveness of ribosome inactivating proteins and mesenchymal stem cells/MSC derived extracellular vesicles in cancer treatment.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- In-vitro antiproliferative efficacy of Abrus precatorius seed extracts on cervical carcinoma.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The Updated Review on Plant Peptides and Their Applications in Human Health.International journal of peptide research and therapeutics · 2022Review
- Plant antimicrobial peptides: structures, functions, and applications.Botanical studies · 2021Review
- Research advances and prospects of legume lectins.Journal of biosciences · 2021Review
- Ganji Formulation for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Who Have Undergone Surgery: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Article
- Fordin: A novel type I ribosome inactivating protein from Vernicia fordii modulates multiple signaling cascades leading to anti-invasive and pro-apoptotic effects in cancer cells in vitro.International journal of oncology · 2018Article
- Phaseolus acutifolius Lectin Fractions Exhibit Apoptotic Effects on Colon Cancer: Preclinical Studies Using Dimethilhydrazine or Azoxi-Methane as Cancer Induction Agents.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Article
- Plant Lectins as Medical Tools against Digestive System Cancers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Review
- Article
- Anti-tumor activities and apoptotic mechanism of ribosome-inactivating proteins.Chinese journal of cancer · 2015Review
- Anti-cancer activities of Schedule E1 drugs used in ayurvedic formulations.Journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicineReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimAbrus agglutinin (AGG) from the seeds of Indian medicinal plant Abrus precatorius belongs to the class II ribosome inactivating protein family. In this study we investigated the anticancer effects of AGG against human hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro and in vivo.
methodsCell proliferation, DNA fragmentation, Annexin V binding, immunocytofluorescence, Western blotting, caspase activity assays and luciferase assays were performed to evaluate AGG in human liver cancer cells HepG2. Immunohistochemical staining and TUNEL expression were studied in tumor samples of HepG2-xenografted nude mice.
resultsAGG induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. AGG-treated HepG2 cells demonstrated an increase in caspase 3/7, 8 and 9 activities and a sharp decrease in the Bcl-2/Bax ratio, indicating activation of a caspase cascade. Co-treatment of HepG2 cells with AGG and a caspase inhibitor or treatment of AGG in Bax knockout HepG2 cells decreased the caspase 3/7 activity in comparison to HepG2 cells exposed only to AGG. Moreover, AGG decreased the expression of Hsp90 and suppressed Akt phosphorylation and NF-κB expression in HepG2 cells. Finally, AGG treatment significantly reduced tumor growth in nude mice bearing HepG2 xenografts, increased TUNEL expression and decreased CD-31 and Ki-67 expression compared to levels observed in the untreated control mice bearing HepG2 cells.
conclusionAGG inhibits the growth and progression of HepG2 cells by inducing caspase-mediated cell death. The agglutinin could be an alternative natural remedy for the treatment of human hepatocellular carcinomas.
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