Mitochondrial translocation of cofilin-1 promotes apoptosis of gastric cancer BGC-823 cells induced by ursolic acid.

Qingfeng Tang, Qing Ji, Yu Tang, Teng Chen, Gang Pan, Songjiao Hu, Yijie Bao, Wen Peng, Peihao Yin

Journal: Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine 2014;35(3):2451-9

PMID: 24197982

Free Full Text on Atypon View on PubMed

Abstract

The pathogenesis of gastric cancer is characterized by excessive proliferation, abnormal differentiation, and reduced apoptosis. Ursolic acid, extracted from traditional Chinese medicine bearberry, inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in gastric cancer. However, the mechanism of the proapoptotic effect of ursolic acid on gastric cancer cells needs further investigation. In our present study, we found in apoptotic gastric cancer BGC-823 cells induced by ursolic acid that a translocation of cofilin-1 protein from the cytoplasm to the mitochondria promoted the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm, thereby activating the caspase cascade and finally inducing gastric cancer cell apoptosis. These results implied that the mitochondrial translocation of cofilin-1 might play a crucial role in the promotion of apoptosis and might be a key target for future treatment of human gastric cancer.

Address: Department of Clinical Laboratories & Experimental Center, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200062, China.

DOI: 10.1007/s13277-013-1325-7