Tissue Recovery |
Where Recommendations are Based on Scientific Evidence |
|---|
FEBS Lett. 2008 May 28;582(12):1667-71. Epub 2008 Apr 22.
Alpha-lipoic acid induces apoptosis in hepatoma cells via the PTEN/Akt pathway.
Shi DY, Liu HL, Stern JS, Yu PZ, Liu SL.
Department of Biochemistry, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Free Radical Research Center of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, PR China. cyshi@fudan.edu.cn
Abstract
We report here that alpha-lipoic acid (alpha-LA), a naturally-occurring antioxidant, scavenges reactive oxygen species (ROS) followed by an increase in apoptosis of human hepatoma cells. Apoptosis induced by alpha-LA was dependent upon the activation of the caspase cascade and the mitochondrial death pathway. alpha-LA induced increases in caspase-9 and caspase-3 but had no significant effect on caspase-8 activity. Apoptosis induced by alpha-LA was found to be mediated through the tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN)/Akt pathway. Prior to cell apoptosis, PTEN was activated and its downstream target Akt was inhibited. Our findings indicate that increasing ROS scavenging could be a therapeutic strategy to treat cancer.
PMID: 18435927 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
The information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.