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Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 859185, 10 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/859185
Aqueous Extract of Solanum nigrum Leaf Activates Autophagic Cell Death and Enhances Docetaxel-Induced Cytotoxicity in Human Endometrial Carcinoma Cells
1Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 110, Taiwan
2Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
3Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei Medical University Hospital, 252 Wu Hsing Street, Taipei 110, Taiwan
4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
5Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
6Department of Surgery, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 110, Taiwan
7Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Received 22 August 2012; Accepted 1 October 2012
Academic Editor: José Luis Ríos
Copyright © 2012 Cheng-Jeng Tai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Chemotherapy is the main approach in dealing with advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer. An effective complementary ingredient can be helpful in improving the clinical outcome. Aqueous extract of Solanum nigrum leaf (AE-SN) is a principal ingredient for treating cancer patients in traditional Chinese medicinal practice but lacks sufficient evidence to verify its tumor suppression efficacy. This study evaluated the antitumor effects of AE-SN and also assessed the synergistic effects of AE-SN with docetaxel On the human endometrial cancer cell lines, HEC1A, HEC1B, and KLE. The activation of apoptotic markers, caspase-3 and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase, and autophagic marker, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 A/B, wAS determined to clarify the cell death pathways responsible for AE-SN induced tumor cell death. Results indicated that AE-SN-treatment has significant cytotoxicity on the tested endometrial cancer cells with accumulation of LC3 A/B II and demonstrated a synergistic effect of AE-SN and docetaxel in HEC1A and HEC1B cells, but not KLE cells. In conclusion, AE-SN treatment was effective in suppressing endometrial cancer cells via the autophagic pathway and was also capable of enhancing the cytotoxicity of docetaxel in human endometrial cancer cells. Our results provide meaningful evidence for integrative cancer therapy in the future.