The Antitumor Effects of Triterpenoid Saponins from the Anemone flaccida and the Underlying Mechanism

Figure 3

Effects of TS and triterpenoid saponins 1–5 on the COX-2/PGE2 pathway in cancer cells. ((a)-(b)) BEL-7402 and HepG2 cells, as well as high COX-2 expressed HeLa cells induced by LPS treatment, were then treated with 40.0 μg·mL⁻¹ TS or 40.0 μmol·L⁻¹ single triterpenoid saponins 1–5, respectively, for 24 h. The COX-2 mRNA level (a) was measured by quantitative real-time PCR assay and the COX-2 protein level ((b)-(c)) was measured by western blotting, which was normalized by β-actin. (c) Quantitative analysis of the blots in (b). (d) Effects of TS and single saponins 1–5 on PGE2 synthesis level were assessed by Elisa. *𝑃<0.05, **𝑃<0.01 versus control (mean ± SD).

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