Regulation of Bcl-2 family molecules and activation of caspase cascade involved in gypenosides-induced apoptosis in human hepatoma cells

Herbal medicines are increasingly being utilized to treat a wide variety of disease processes. Gypenosides (Gyp) are triterpenoid saponins contained in an extract from Gynostemma pentaphyllum Makino and reported to induce apoptosis in human hepatoma cells. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the Gyp-induced apoptotic process is unclear. In this study, we found that Gyp induced apoptosis in human hepatoma Huh-7, Hep3B and HA22T cell lines...