Proteomic analysis of the anti-cancer effect of 20S-ginsenoside Rg ₃ in human colon cancer cell lines

Ginseng is a well known herbal medicine in Asia, and ginsenoside Rg ₃ has anti-cancer and various pharmacological effects. In particular, 20S-ginsenoside Rg₃ may increase the anti-proliferative effects of chemotherapy. The authors investigated the mechanism of the anti-proliferative effect of 20S-Rg₃ at the protein level in HT29 colon cancer cells. MTT, caspase-3 assays, and flow cytometry analysis were performed to determine cytotoxicity and apoptosis, and proteomic analysis was performed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF/TOF MS, and a database was used to identify protein changes in 20S-Rg₃ treated HT29 cells. The proteins identified included down-regulated Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor, up-regulated tropomyosin1, and annexin5 and glutathione s-transferase p1, which are apoptosis associated proteins. The anti-proliferative mechanism of 20S-Rg₃ was found to be involved in mitotic inhibition, DNA replication, and repair and growth factor signaling. The findings of this study suggest that the cytotoxicity of 20S-Rg₃ in colon cancer is dependent on several mechanisms, including apoptosis.