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ISSN 0582-9879                                          Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica 2004, 36(3):211-217                                            CN 31-1300/Q

Effects of Huangqi (Hex) on Inducing Cell Differentiation and Cell Death in K562 and HEL Cells

Xiao-Dong CHENG1$, Chun-Hui HOU1, Xue-Jun ZHANG2, Heng-Yue XIE1, Wei-Ying ZHOU1, Lei YANG2, Shu-Bing ZHANG1, and Ruo-Lan QIAN1*

 

(1State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai 200031, China;

2Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai 200031, China)

 

Abstract        Huangqi (Astragalus membranaceus), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been used to ameliorate side effects of cancer chemotherapy in China. However, little is known about its molecular mechanisms. Here we show that induction of K562 or HEL cells with 1.5 mg/ml of Huangqi (Hex) (Components extracted from Huangqi) for 3-5 d results in the expression of b-globin gene in both cell lines and leads to terminal differentiation. Moreover, the apoptosis in HEL cells can be induced by increasing concentration of Huangqi (Hex) to 4.5 mg/ml for 3-5 d. Upregulation of Apaf-1, caspase-3 and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in HEL cells may play a crucial role in the process of apoptosis. The prospect of inducing expression of adult (β) globin gene and apoptosis selectively in cancer cells is obviously attractive from a therapeutic point of view.

 

Key words        cell death and differentiation; Huangqi (Hex); human erythroleukemia cell lines

 

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Received: November 27, 2003        Accepted: December 16, 2003

This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 39893320, No. 39870378) and the Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Kj 982-j1618)

$Present address: Division of Infectious Diseases and Environmental Medicine Center for Human Virology and Biodefense, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, Suite 328 Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA patent No. for this work is 99119912.X

*Corresponding author: Fax, 86-21-54921011; Tel, 86-21-54921354; E-mail, qianlab@sunm.shcnc.ac.cn