Amplexicaule A exerts anti-tumor effects by inducing apoptosis in human breast cancer

// Meixian Xiang 1, 2, * , Hanwen Su 3, * , Guangwen Shu 1 , Dingrong Wan 1 , Feng He 1 , Morgann Loaec 2 , Yali Ding 2 , Jun Li 1 , Sinisa Dovat 2 , Gaungzhong Yang 1 , Chunhua Song 2 1 College of Pharmacy, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, PR China 2 Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Hershey, PA, USA 3 Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, PR China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Guangzhong Yang, e-mail: 756626131@qq.com Chunhua Song, e-mail: csong@hmc.psu.edu Keywords: amplexicaule A, apoptosis, Akt/mTOR, MCL-1, breast cancer Received: September 02, 2015      Accepted: January 18, 2016      Published: March 02, 2016 ABSTRACT Chemotherapy is the main treatment for patients with breast cancer metastases, but natural alternatives have been receiving attention for their potential as novel anti-tumor reagents. Amplexicaule A (APA) is a flavonoid glucoside isolated from rhizomes of Polygonum amplexicaule D. Don var. sinense Forb (PADF). We found that APA has anti-tumor effects in a breast cancer xenograft mouse model and induces apoptosis in breast cancer cell lines. APA increased levels of cleaved caspase-3,-8,-9 and PARP, which resulted from suppression of MCL-1 and BCL-2 expression in the cells. APA also inactivated the Akt/mTOR pathway in breast cancer cells. Thus, APA exerts a strong anti-tumor effect on breast cancer cells, most likely through induction of apoptosis. Our study is the first to identify this novel anti-tumor compound and provides a new strategy for isolation and separation of single compounds from herbs.