Planta Med. 2001 Nov; 67(8): 754-7.

Apoptosis induced by isoliquiritigenin in human gastric cancer MGC-803 cells.

Ma J, Fu NY, Pang DB, Wu WY, Xu AL.

Department of Biochemistry, Center for Biopharmaceutical Research and State Key Laboratory For Biocontrol, College of Life Science, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, P. R. China.

Isoliquiritigenin, which is possibly a principal anti-tumor constituent of licorice, a traditional Chinese herb, was examined for apoptosis-inducing activity in human gastric cancer MGC-803 cells. Typical morphological and biochemical features of apoptosis including cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, DNA ladder formation, and appearance of apoptotic peaks (subG(1)) were observed in MGC-803 cells with isoliquiritigenin treatment. Using Fluo-3 and Rh123 as fluorescent probes, respectively, it was found that the intracellular free calcium concentration increased and the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Deltapsi(m)) decreased in a dose-dependent manner in apoptotic cells. These results suggest that isoliquiritigenin induced apoptosis of MGC-803 cells through calcium- and Deltapsi(m)-dependent pathways, indicating that it is potentially useful as a natural anti-cancer agent.