Saponins, plant glycosides, have been reported to possess anti-cancer properties. Therefore the effect of corchorusin-D (COR-D), a compound isolated from Corchorus acutangulus, was studied in the chronic myelogenous leukemic cell line K562, using MTT assay, phase contrast and confocal microscopy, annexin V binding, cell cycle analysis and western blotting. COR-D inhibited cell growth in K562 cells and showed increased number of Annexin V FITC binding cells. Characteristic apoptotic changes, seen under phase contrast and confocal microscopes with accumulation of cells in the sub-G0 phase. The apoptosis involved drop in Bcl-2/Bax ratio, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c in cytosol followed by activation of caspases 9 and 3, and cleavage of PARP. Down-regulation of pro-caspase 10 was observed along with formation of death-inducing signaling complex between TNF-R1 and TRADD. COR-D suppressed PDK1 and AKT with activation of MAP kinase family members ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38. Thus it induced apoptosis by activating mitochondrial and death receptor pathways and suppressing AKT/PKB rather than MAP kinase pathway. Significant enhancement of apoptosis, noted using specific inhibitors of ERK1/2, p38 and JNK1/2, suggests that COR-D can enhance apoptosis in K562 cells in combination with MAP kinase inhibitors.
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