Trichosanthes kirilowii tuber is a traditional medicine which exhibits various medicinal effects including antidiabetic and anticancer\r\nactivities in several cancer cells. Recently, it was reported that Cucurbitacin D (CuD) isolated from Trichosanthes kirilowii also\r\ninduces apoptosis in several cancer cells. Constitutive signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which is an\r\noncogenic transcription factor, is often observed in many human malignant tumor, including breast cancer. In the present study,\r\nwe tested whether Trichosanthes kirilowii ethanol extract (TKE) or CuD suppresses cell growth and induces apoptosis through\r\ninhibition of STAT3 activity in breast cancer cells.We found that both TKE andCuD suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis\r\nand G2/M cell cycle arrest in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells by inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation. In addition, both TKE and\r\nCuD inhibited nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of STAT3. Taken together, our results indicate that TKE and its\r\nderived compound, CuD, could be potent therapeutic agents for breast cancer, blocking tumor cell proliferation and inducing\r\napoptosis through suppression of STAT3 activity.
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