Fig. 4.

The possible site of action of beta (β) asarone in apoptosis, cell proliferation and growth. (A) The (β)-asarone regulates the levels of the key proteins involved in the cell death and mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. (β)-asarone results in enhancement of the ratio of Bcl-xS/Bcl-xL via inhibition of hnRNP A2/B1-mediated signaling pathway, which may be correlated with (β)-asarone-induced apoptosis. On the other hand, the increased expression of cleaved-caspase 3, 8 and 9 along with the activation of the death receptor proteins TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and Fas ligand (FasL), it results in the induction of apoptosis. (B) (β)-asarone induced the cell cycle arrest at G₀/G₁ phase through the up-regulation of cell cycle related proteins as p21 and p27 and down-regulation of cyclin D, cyclin E, Cdc25A and CDK2. [Possible site of action of (β)-asarone as observed in glioblastoma (U251 cells), colon cancer (LoVo cells), colorectal cancer (HT29 and SW480 cells), gastric cancer (SGC-7901, BGC-823 and MKN-28 cells), gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS cells), fibroblast (HSkMC cells) and prostate cancer (LNCaP cells)].