Visit our Expo - Redox and Inflammation signaling 2012

Session X : Cell death in cancer Poster X, 57
Wogonin, a plant flavone, potentiates etoposide-induced apoptosis in cancer cells
Eibai Lee 1 , Riyo Enomoto 1 , Chie Suzuki 1 , Masataka Ohno 1 , Toshinori Ohashi 1 , Azusa
Miyauchi 1 , Eriko Tanimoto 1 , Kaori Maeda 1 , Hiroyuki Hirano 2 , Toshio Yokoi 2 and
Chiyoko Sugahara 1
1 Department of Pharmacology and 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kobe Gakuin University, Ikawadani-cho, Nishi-ku, Kobe
651-2180 Japan. E-mail : elee@pharm.kobegakuin.ac.jp
Etoposide, a podophylotoxin anticancer agent, induces apoptotic cell death in normal and
cancer cells. Etoposide-induced apoptosis plays a role in not only anticancer effect but also
adverse reaction such as myelosuppression. Since we have found that wogonin, a flavone
found in Scutellaria baicalensis, suppresses thymocyte apoptosis induced by various
compounds including etoposide, we examined the effect of this flavone on etoposide-induced
apoptosis in cancer cells. Although wogonin itself hardly affected biochemical and
morphological features of apoptosis in leukemia cells such as Jurkat and HL-60 cells, this
flavone significantly potentiated etoposide-induced apoptosis in these cells. Similarly,
wogonin accelerated etoposide-induced cell death in lung cancer cells. Since wogonin had no
effect on the action of other anticancer agents such as 5-FU and cisplatin, this flavone seems
to accelerate only apoptotic cell death induced by etoposide in cancer cells. These results
suggest that the modification of etoposide-induced apoptosis by wogonin may be available to
reduce the adverse reaction of this agent.
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