Research Article In Vivo and In Vitro Antitumor Effects of Platycodin D, a Saponin Purified from Platycodi Radix on the H520 Lung Cancer Cell

Copyright © 2014 Jae Chan Park et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Platycodin D is a major pharmacological constituent of Platycodi radix and has showed various pharmacological activities through oxidative stress defense mechanisms. Here, possible antitumor, anticachexia, and immunomodulatory activities of platycodin D were observed on the H520 tumor cell-bearing athymic nude mice after confirming the in vitro cytotoxicity. Platycodin D was orally administered at dose levels of 200, 100, and 50mg/kg, once a day for 35 days from 15 days after implantation.The results were compared with gemcitabine 160mg/kg intraperitoneally treated mice (7-day intervals). Platycodin D showed favorable cytotoxic effects on the H520 cells, and also dose-dependently decreased the tumor volumes and weights with increases of apoptotic cells (caspase-3 and PARP immunopositive cells), iNOS and TNF