2. Academic Validation
  3. Anti-Proliferation Effect of Theasaponin E₁ on the ALDH-Positive Ovarian Cancer Stem-Like Cells

Anti-Proliferation Effect of Theasaponin E₁ on the ALDH-Positive Ovarian Cancer Stem-Like Cells

  • Molecules. 2018 Jun 17;23(6):1469. doi: 10.3390/molecules23061469.
Ling-Yan Jia 1 2,  Hui-Long Xia 3,  Zhi-Da Chen 4,  Casey Compton 5,  Heather Bucur 6,  Devendra A Sawant 7,  Gary O Rankin 8,  Bo Li 9,  You-Ying Tu 10,  Yi Charlie Chen 11
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Tea Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. [email protected].
  • 2 College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, Alderson Broaddus University, Philippi, WV 26416, USA. [email protected].
  • 3 School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China. [email protected].
  • 4 Department of Tea Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. [email protected].
  • 5 College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, Alderson Broaddus University, Philippi, WV 26416, USA. [email protected].
  • 6 College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, Alderson Broaddus University, Philippi, WV 26416, USA. [email protected].
  • 7 School of Anatomical Science, Alderson Broaddus University, College of Medical Science, Philippi, WV 26416, USA. [email protected].
  • 8 Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25755, USA. [email protected].
  • 9 Department of Tea Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. [email protected].
  • 10 Department of Tea Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. [email protected].
  • 11 College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, Alderson Broaddus University, Philippi, WV 26416, USA. [email protected].
PMID: 29914196 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23061469
Abstract

Ovarian Cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynecological malignancies and the five-year death rate of patients has remained high in the past five decades. Recently, with the rise of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) theory, an increasing amount of research has suggested that CSCs give rise to tumor recurrence and metastasis. Theasaponin E₁ (TSE₁), which was isolated from green tea (Camellia sinensis) seeds, has been proposed to be an effective compound for tumor treatment. However, studies on whether TSE₁ takes effect through CSCs have rarely been reported. In this paper, ALDH-positive (ALDH+) ovarian Cancer stem-like cells from two platinum-resistant ovarian Cancer cell lines A2780/CP70 and OVCAR-3 were used to study the anti-proliferation effect of TSE₁ on CSCs. The ALDH+ cells showed significantly stronger sphere forming vitality and stronger cell migration capability. In addition, the stemness marker proteins CD44, Oct-4, Nanog, as well as Bcl-2 and MMP-9 expression levels of ALDH+ cells were upregulated compared with the original tumor cells, indicating that they have certain stem cell characteristics. At the same time, the results showed that TSE₁ could inhibit cell proliferation and suspension sphere formation in ALDH+ cells. Our data suggests that TSE₁ as a natural compound has the potential to reduce human ovarian Cancer mortality. However, more research is still needed to find out the molecular mechanism of TSE₁-mediated inhibition of ALDH+ cells and possible drug applications on the disease.

Keywords

ALDH; Camellia sinensis; cancer stem cells; ovarian cancer; theasaponin E1.

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