Medicinal plants are potential sources of new drugs and natural therapies based on them are becoming increasingly important means of disease treatment. the ecballium elaterium (l.) a. rich is a wild toxic herb from cucurbitaceae family that produce cucurbitacin molecules and has medicinal importance in traditional treatment prescriptions (1). cucurbitacins target several signalling pathways and exhibit a range of anti-cancer functions (2). in this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of cucurbitacins d purified from e. elaterium fruits on bcl-2 gene in ags cell line.
Methods
Using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qrt-pcr), the expression of bcl-2 gene were quantified in ags cells 24 hours after treatment with cucurbitacin d.
Results
Purified cucurbitacin d upregulated bcl-2 in ags cells (p-value <0.05).
Conclusion
Cucurbitacin d purified from e. elaterium fruits upregulate bcl-2 in human gastric cancer cell line ags. the present study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying cucurbitacin-mediated cell death in gastric cancer.
