Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the change of apoptosis genes expression of HT29 cells induced by Saikosaponin D (SSD), which is the major component of Xiao Chai Hu Tang, the classic Chinese medicine prescriptions. In this study, gene expression profiles of HT29 cells with or without the SSD treatment were obtained by means of using RT ProfilerTMPCR Array Human Apoptosis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analyzed to detect differential gene expression. According to results of 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, a final concentration of 10 mg /L of SSD for 24 h was used in the SSD group and the growth inhibition rate of HT-29 cells was about 5%. In SSD treated cells, expression levels of 14 kinds of apoptosis genes changed significantly. Compared with the control group, some apoptosis genes such as DIVA, CASP10, and TRAILR were expressed at much higher levels, while some anti-apoptosis gene such as HIAPI, NAIP, BCL2 were also expressed at much higher levels. SSD induces the apoptosis of HT29 through the apoptosis pathway of TRAIL, TRAIL-R and caspase10 and/or caspase8. And these data could provide targets for the treatment of colon cancer.

Key words: Saikosaponin D, colon carcinoma, apoptosis, gene expression.