ArticleJournal of pharmaceutical analysis2023
Ginsenoside Rk3 is a novel PI3K/AKT-targeting therapeutics agent that regulates autophagy and apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Article in Journal of pharmaceutical analysis, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinicopathological significance of AKT and phosphorylated AKT expression in hepatocellular carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Therapeutic Effects of Natural Products on Liver Cancer and Their Potential Mechanisms.Nutrients · 2024Pooled it
- Cyanoglycosides isolated fromPharmaceutical biology · 2026Article
- Liver Disease and Plant-Derived Phytoconstituents: From Ethnopharmacology to Modern Medicine.Phytotherapy research : PTR · 2026Review
- miR-486-5p suppresses autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma via activation of the AKT/mTOR signalling pathway.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Article
- Paeoniflorin Alleviates Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation/Reoxygenation Injury by Mediating Crosstalk Between Neurons and Endothelial Cells Through the VEGF/PI3K-AKT/mTOR Pathway.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The rise of dehydrated ginsenosides: phytochemistry and pharmacology.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Ginsenosides Rk3 and Rh4: Efficient transformation, modern pharmacological effects, and applications potential.Journal of ginseng research · 2026Review
- BlackenedMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Research Progress on Anticancer Mechanism of Ginsenoside Regulating Tumor Microenvironment.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Targeting Autophagy in Ovarian Cancer: The Emerging Role of Ginsenosides.Cancer medicine · 2026Review
- Understanding the immunomodulatory mechanisms for natural products that overcome tumor chemoresistance to platinum-based cancer drugs and other treatments.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiota and Primary Liver Cancer: Mendelian Randomization and Network Pharmacology Used to Predict Potential Therapeutic Intervention With Traditional Chinese Medicine.International journal of genomics · 2026Article
- Bioactive Constituents of Ginseng in Cancer Therapy: Molecular Mechanisms, Translational Potential, and Advanced Delivery Strategies.International journal of biological sciences · 2026Review
- Multi-omics and compositional analysis of bidirectional solid fermentation products fromJournal of ginseng research · 2026Article
- The interaction between dendritic cells and T follicular helper cells drives inflammatory bowel disease: a review.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Plant secondary metabolites exert therapeutic effects by modulating autophagy pathways.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Review
- Therapeutic potential of natural triterpenoids in liver cancer.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2025Review
- Prognostic difference of single metastasis in different sites of hepatocellular carcinoma: a population-based study.Translational cancer research · 2025Article
- Sotorasib-impaired degradation of NEU1 contributes to cardiac injury by inhibiting AKT signaling.Cell death discovery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Ginsenoside Rk3, an important and rare saponin in heat-treated ginseng, is generated from Rg1 and has a smaller molecular weight. However, the anti-HCC efficacy and mechanisms of ginsenoside Rk3 have not yet been characterized. Here, we investigated the mechanism by which ginsenoside Rk3, a tetracyclic triterpenoid rare ginsenoside, inhibits the growth of HCC. We first explored the possible potential targets of Rk3 through network pharmacology. Both in vitro (HepG2 and HCC-LM3 cells) and in vivo (primary liver cancer mice and HCC-LM3 subcutaneous tumor-bearing mice) studies revealed that Rk3 significantly inhibits the proliferation of HCC. Meanwhile, Rk3 blocked the cell cycle in HCC at the G1 phase and induced autophagy and apoptosis in HCC. Further proteomics and siRNA experiments showed that Rk3 regulates the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) pathway to inhibit HCC growth, which was validated by molecular docking and surface plasmon resonance. In conclusion, we report the discovery that ginsenoside Rk3 binds to PI3K/AKT and promotes autophagy and apoptosis in HCC. Our data strongly support the translation of ginsenoside Rk3 into novel PI3K/AKT-targeting therapeutics for HCC treatment with low toxic side effects.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.