Ginsenoside Rh2

Kinase experiment:

HeLa, SK-HEP-1, SW480, and PC-3 cells are treated with Ginsenoside Rh2 (7.5 μg/mL) in serum free media for indicated time periods and then are harvested. Fifty micrograms of cell lysates are incubated with 200 nM Ac-DEVD-AFC (for caspase-3), Ac-IETD-AFC (for caspase-8), and Ac-LEHD-AFC (for caspase-9) in a reaction buffer containing 20 mM HEPES, pH 7.4, 100 mM NaCl, 10 mM DTT, 0.1% CHAPS, and 10% sucrose at 37°C for 1 h. The reaction is monitored by fluorescence emission at 535 nm and excitation at 405 nm[1].

Cell experiment:

Determination of cell viability is performed by using MTT assay, which is used to calculate the growth inhibition induced by increasing concentrations of drug. Briefly, exponentially growing HeLa, SK-HEP-1, SW480, and PC-3 cells are seeded into a 96-well plate at 1×104 cells/well in triplicate. After incubation for 24 h, cells are treated with increasing concentration of Ginsenoside Rh2 (1, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 μg/mL) in serum free media for 48 h. At the end of treatment, 20 μL of MTT (5 mg/mL) is added to each well and incubated for an additional 4 h. The formazan grains formed by viable cells are solubilized with DMSO, and the color intensity is measured at 550 nm with an ELISA reader[1].

Animal experiment:

Mice[2]Male C57BL6 mice (3-4 weeks old) are randomly arranged into 4 groups of 80 mice: Tumor group, G-L group, G-H group and Control group. G-L and G-H refer to a low or high dose of ginsenoside Rh2 injection. For the tumor group, G-L group and G-H group, the B16-F10 cell line is injected into the mice. These 3 groups become tumor bearing groups. For the control group, the same volume of PBS is injected instead. Ginsenoside Rh2 is injected into the left back of mice in the G-L and G-H groups. The dose for the G-H group is 0.5 mg/kg or 0.2 mg/kg for G-L group, every 2 days after day 5. PBS is injected in the tumor and control groups at the same time points.

References:

[1]. Guo XX, et al. p53-dependent Fas expression is critical for Ginsenoside Rh2 triggered caspase-8 activation in HeLa cells. Protein Cell. 2014 Mar;5(3):224-34.
[2]. Wang M, et al. Ginsenoside Rh2 enhances the antitumor immunological response of a melanoma mice model. Oncol Lett. 2017 Feb;13(2):681-685.