The Effects Of Aloe-emodin On Human Tongue And Lung Cancer Cell Lines In Vitro

Objects: Previous studies show that aloe-emodin can inhibit the proliferation of several tumor cell lines, while the mechanisms by which aloe-emodin suppresses tumor growth and whether it has suppressing effect on tongue cancer cell line remain unknown. The present study was designed to primarily investigate the inhibitory effects and the mechanisms of aloe-emodin-inducing cell death in tongue cancer cell line Tca8113 and lung cancer cell line YTMLC in order to acquire more informations about aloe's pharmacological functions and try to broaden the clinical uses of the traditional Chinese herb.Methods:MTT was used to evaluate the inhibitory effects of aloe-emodin on the cancer cell lines. Immunofluoescence assay, DNA fragmentation(DNA ladder) assay, flow cytometry analysis and electron microscope were applied to investigate the effects and mechanisms of aloe-emodin on the cancer cell lines. Western blot assay was applied to detect the protein-expression changes of caspase 3 and its substrate PARP during the aloe-emodin-induced apoptosis.Results: 1.Aloe-emodin could inhibit the growth of Tca8113 and YTMLC and the inhibitory effects showed concentration-time-effect pattern. Also the inhibitory effect in the group with the concentrtion of 10μg/ml aloe-emodin was significantly highter than other experimental groups.2.The growth-suppressing effects of aloe-emodin on lung cancer cell YTMLCwas carried out by inducing the tumor cells apoptosis, while there was notdetectable apoptosis for the Tca8113 tumor cells under the experimentalassays.3.During the induced apoptosis of YTMLC, there existed the proteolysis ofcaspase 3 and PARP.Conclusions: Aloe-emodin can inhibit the growth both of the tongue cancer cell line Tca8113 cells and the lung cancer cell line YTMLC cells in vitro. The inhibitory effect of aloe-emodin on YTMLC may through the way of apoptosis induction while the inhibitory mechanism on Tca8113 remains unclear and need to be investigated further. The study indicates that aloe-emodin may be a promising chemopreventive antilung cancer drug.