Objectives Cucurbitacins exhibit a range of anti-cancer functions. We investigated the effects of cucurbitacins D, E, and I purified from Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich fruits on some apoptotic and autophagy genes in human gastric cancer cell line AGS. Materials and Methods Using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), the expression of LC3, VEGF, BAX, caspase-3, and c-MYC genes w...

Anurag A. Agrawal,* Arne Janssen, Jan Bruin, Maarten A. Posthumus and Maurice W. Sabelis Department of Botany, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada. Section Population Biology, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 320, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen Agricultural University, Dreijenplein 8, 6703 HB Wageningen, The ...

During the last decades a large number of cucurbitacins have been isolated from various plant species belonging to other plant families than Cucurbitaceae. Although the roots and the fruits of plant belong to these Cucurbitaceae species are very bitter, they have been used as folk medicines in some countries because of their wide spectrum of pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammation ...

The carcinostatic activity of elatericin A, elatericin B, elaterin, elaterin methylether, dihydroelatericin A, and tetrahydroelatericin A, all cucurbitacins of a triterpene structure, and of trans-4-hydroxy-4-methylpent-~-enoic acid, the isolated side chain of the cucurbitacin molecule, was studied. Three cucurbitacins, elatericin A, elatericin B, and elaterin produced a moderate inhibition of ...

Objective(s): Cucurbitacins exhibit a range of anti-cancer functions. We investigated the effects of cucurbitacins D, E, and I purified from Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich fruits on some apoptotic and autophagy genes in human gastric cancer cell line AGS. Materials and Methods: Using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), the expression of LC3, VEGF, BAX, caspase-3, and c-MYC genes...

Two triterpenoids, cucurbitacins B and D, have been isolated from seeds of Iberis umbellata (Cruciferae) and shown to be responsible for the antagonistic activity of a methanolic extract of this species in preventing the 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E)-induced morphological changes in the Drosophila melanogaster BII permanent cell line. With a 20E concentration of 50 nM, cucurbitacins B and D give 50%...

Introduction: Cucurbitacins are highly oxygenated compounds abundantly found in Cucurbitaceous genera such as Citrullus, Cucumis, Cucurbita and Luffa (11). A relatively common cucurbitacin found in Cucurbitaceous species is cucurbitacin E (CuE). Although cucurbitacins exhibit positive effects both pharmacologically (1-3, 6, 14, 17) and in protecting the plants from certain diseases (5), they ha...

The best medium for callus proliferation from hypocotyl and cotyledon explants of aseptically grown seedlings of two Egyptian landraces of rare wild plants, Ecballium elaterium and Cucumis prophetarum was found to be Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.1-0.5 mg/l NAA in combination with BA at 2 mg/l. On the other hand, MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BA, 60 mg/l adenine sulfa...

Cucurbitacins are feeding stimulants for corn rootworm used in baits to control the adults of this insect pest. Corn rootworm larvae also feed compulsively on cucurbitacins. Cucurbitacins are reported to be gibberellin antagonists that may preclude their use as seed treatments for these soil-dwelling insects. The crude extract of a bitter Hawkesbury watermelon containing cucurbitacin E-glycosid...

Background: The plant Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich, belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family which occupies an important position in traditional medicine prescriptions. It has been reported that a freeze-dried aqueous extract of E. elaterium fruits has cytotoxic effects on the AGS human stomach adenocarcinoma cell line. We here focused on anticancer effects of the main chemicals purified from E....