Pterostilbene Induces Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Gastric Carcinoma Cells

Pterostilbene, an active constituent of blueberries, is known to possess anti-inflammatory activity and also induces apoptosis in various types of cancer cells. Here, the effects of pterostilbene on cell viability in human gastric carcinoma AGS cells were investigated. This study demonstrated that pterostilbene was able to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Pterostilbene-induced cell death was characterized with changes in nuclear morphology, DNA fragmentation, and cell morphology. The molecular mechanism of pterostilbene-induced apoptosis was also investigated. The results show the caspase-2, -3, -8, and -9 are all activated by pterostilbene, together with cleavage of the downstream caspase-3 target DNA fragmentation factor (DFF-45) and poly(ADP-riobse) polymerase. Moreover, the results indicate that the Bcl-family of proteins, the mitochondrial pathway, and activation of the caspase cascade are responsible for pterostilbene-induced apoptosis. P...