인체유방암세포에서 Cyclooxygenase-2 활성 및 Prostaglandin E2 생성에 미치는 어성초 추출물의 영향 = Antiproliferative effect of Houttuynia cordata Thunb was Associated with the Inhibiton of Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Human Breast Carcinoma Cells

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Houttuynia cordata Thunb, well known as 'E-Sung-Cho' in Korea, is a traditional medicinal plant generally used in Oriental medicine therapy. In the present study, we investigated the effect of water extract of H. cordafa (WEHC) on the growth of human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells. Exposure of MCF-7 cells to WEHC resulted in growth inhibition and apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner as measured by MTT assay and fluorescent microscope. The anti-proliferative effect of WEHC was associated with a dose-dependent up-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 in a p53-independent fashion. We found WEHC decreased the levels of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthease (iNOS) expression without significant changes in the expression of COX-1 , which was correlated with a decrease in prostaglandin $E_2{\;}(PGE_2)$ synthesis. Taken together, these findings provide important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of H. cordata.