Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Mechanism of Ursolic Acid-Mediated Inhibition of Proliferation in Vascular Endothelial Glioaytoma

Lin-Qi Ye¹, Xiu-Feng Ye², Hong Xu³

¹Life Science and Technology Institute of Yangtze Normal University, Chongqing; ²Department of Pathology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China; ³Karolinska Institutet, Onco Reg AB, Sweden.

For correspondence:- Hong Xu Email: xuhong10@126.com Tel:+862372374466

Received: 12 June 2012 Accepted: 28 July 2013 Published: 23 August 2013

Citation: Ye L, Ye X, Xu H. Mechanism of Ursolic Acid-Mediated Inhibition of Proliferation in Vascular Endothelial Glioaytoma. Trop J Pharm Res 2013; 12(4):511-515 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v12i4.10

© 2013 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effects of ursolic acid (UA) on expressions of ERK1, C-Jun, C-Myc and Cyclin D1 in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC), and to explore the mechanism of anti-cancer activity of UA on glioma.

Methods: HUVEC was treated with UA (0, 31.5, 62.5, 125, 250, 500 μg/mL) for 24 h, and 125 μg/mL for 0, 12, 24, 48 h, respectively) and PD98059 in vitro. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to measure the endogenous mRNA levels of ERK1, C-Jun, C-Myc, and Cyclin D1, and Western blotting was used to determine the expressions of ERK1, C-Jun, C-Myc, and Cyclin D1 proteins.

Results: The results show that the mRNA levels of ERK1, C-Jun, C-Myc, and Cyclin D1 were down-regulated, following treatment with UA (in a dose- and time-dependent manner) and PD98059 (p < 0.05). In addition, the protein expressions of ERK1, C-Jun, C-Myc, and cyclin D1 were all significantly down-regulated, after treatment with UA (in a dose- and time-dependent manner) and PD98059 (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The findings indicate that UA can significantly inhibit the generation of vascular endothelial cells of glioma by down-regulating the expressions of ERK1, C-Jun, C-Myc and Cyclin D1 of ERK signal transduction pathway.

Keywords: Ursolic acid, Vascular endothelial cell, ERK signal pathway, Glioma, Down-regulation, Anti-cancer