Abstract
Trigonella foenum-graecum generally known as fenugreek, has been normally cultivated in Asia and Africa for the edible and medicinal values of its seeds. Fenugreek leaves and seeds have been used widely for therapeutic purposes. Fenugreek seed is recognized to show anti-diabetic and anti-nociceptive properties and other things such as hypocholesterolaemic, and anti-cancer. Diosgenin is a steroidal saponin from therapeutic herbs, fenugreek (T. foenum-graceum L.), has been well-known to have anticancer properties. Telomerase activity is not identified in usual healthy cells, while in carcinogenic cell telomerase expression is reactivated. Therefore telomerase illustrates a promising cancer therapeutic target. We deliberate the inhibitory effect of pure diosgenin and fenugreek extract diosgenin on human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (hTERT) expression which is critical for telomerase activity. MTT-assay and qRT-PCR analysis were achieved to discover cytotoxicity effects and hTERT gene expression inhibition properties, separately. MTT results exhibited that IC50 for pure diosgenin were 47, 44 and 43 µM and for fenugreek extract diosgenin were 49, 48 and 47 µM for 24, 48 and 72 h after treatment. Culturing cells with pure diosgenin and fenugreek extract diosgenin treatment caused in down regulation of hTERT expression. These results indication that pure and impure diosgenin prevents telomerase activity by down regulation of the hTERT gene expression in A549 lung cancer cell line, with the difference that pure compound is more effective than another.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blackburn E, Collins K (2011) Telomerase: an RNP enzyme synthesizes DNA. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 3:a003558
Maraei AM, Hatta AZ, Shiran MS et al (2012) Human telomerase reverse transcriptase expression in ovarian tumors. Indian J Pathol Microbiol 55:187–191
Athey V, Suckling R, Tod A et al (2012) Early diagnosis of lung cancer: evaluation of a community-based social marketing intervention. Thorax 67:412–417
Herbst RS, Heymach JV, Lippman SM (2008) Lung cancer. N Engl J Med 359:1367–1380
Altuntas E, EnginOzgoz O, Taser F (2005) Some physical properties of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seeds. J Food Eng 71:37–43
Srinivasan K (2006) Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum): a review of health beneficial physiological effects. Food-Rev Int 22:203–224
Madhava M, Shyamala BN, Pura J et al (2010) Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of husk and endosperm of fenugreek seeds. LWT-Food Sci Technol 44:451–456
Nagore D, Patil P, Kuber V (2012) Comparison between high performance liquid chromatography and high performance thin layer chromatography determination of diosgenin from fenugreek seeds. Int J Green Pharm 6:315–320
Miyoshi N, Nagasawa T, Mabuchi R et al (2011) Chemoprevention of azoxymethane/dextran sodium sulfate-induced mouse colon carcinogenesis by freeze-dried Yam Sanyaku and its constituent diosgenin. Cancer Prev Res 4:924–934
Kaviarasan S, Vijayalakshmi K, Anuradha CV (2007) A Polyphenol-rich extract of fenugreek seeds protect erythrocytes from oxidative damage. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 59:143–147
Amin A, Alkaabi A, Al-Falasi S et al (2005) Chemopreventive activities of Trigonella foenum-graecum (Fenugreek) against breast cancer. Cell Biol Int 29:687–694
SujaPandian R, Anuradha VV, Viswanathan P (2002) Gastroprotective effect of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenum- graecum) on experimental gastric ulcer in rats. J Ethnopharmacol 81:393–397
Zia T, NazrulHasnain S, Hasan SK (2001) Evaluation of the oral hypoglycaemic effect of Trigonella foenum-graecum lin normal mice. J Ethnopharmacol 75:191–195
Raju J, Patlolla JM, Swamy MV, Swamy M et al (2004) Diosgenin, a steroid saponin of Trigonella foenum-graecum (Fenugreek), inhibits azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci formation in F344 rats and induces apoptosis in HT-29 human colon cancer cells. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 13:1392–1398
Shishodia S, Aggarwal BB (2006) Diosgenin inhibits osteoclastogenesis, invasion, and proliferation through the down regulation of Akt, I kappa B kinase activation and NF-jB regulated gene expression. Oncogene 25:1463–1473
Corbiere C, Liagre B, Terro F et al (2004) Induction of antiproliferative effect by diosgenin through activation of p53, release of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and modulation of caspase-3activity in different human cancer cells. Cell Res 14:188–196
Li F, Fernandez PP, Rajendran P (2010) Diosgenin, a steroidal saponin, inhibits SATA3 signaling pathway leading to suppression of proliferation and chemosensitization of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Cancer Lett 292:197–207
Chen P, Shih YW, Huang H et al (2011) Diosgenin, a steroidal saponin, inhibits migration and invasion of human prostate cancer PC-3 cells by reducing matrix metalloproteinases expression. PLoS One 6:20164
Srinivasan S, Koduru S, Kumar R et al (2009) Diosgenin targets Akt-mediated prosurvival signaling in human breast cancer cells. Int J Cancer 125:961–967
Rahmati M, Ghareghomi S, Haddadchi G et al (2013) Diosgenin inhibits hTERT gene expression in the A549 lung cancer cell line. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 14:6945–6948
Nasiri M, Zarghami N, Nejati K et al (2013) Curcumin and silibinin inhibit telomerase expression in T47d human breast cancer cells. Asian Pacific J Cancer Prev 14:3449–3453
Philip CJ, Giardina CK, Bilir B, Cutler D et al (2012) Genistein cooperates with the histonedeacetylase inhibitor vorinostat to induce celldeath in prostate cancer cells. BMC Cancer 12:145
Tang XH, Gudas LJ (2011) Retinoids, retinoic acid receptors, and cancer. Annu Rev Pathol 6:345–364
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a grant from Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran and the authors would like to thanks them for technical supports.
Conflict of interest
The authors inform you that there is no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rahmati-Yamchi, M., Ghareghomi, S., Haddadchi, G. et al. Fenugreek extract diosgenin and pure diosgenin inhibit the hTERT gene expression in A549 lung cancer cell line. Mol Biol Rep 41, 6247–6252 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3505-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3505-y