Ethyl acetate extract of Patrinia scabiosaefolia downregulates anti-apoptotic Bcl-2/Bcl-XL expression, and induces apoptosis in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells independent of caspase-9 activation

Patrinia scabiosaefolia Fisch. is a Chinese medicinal herb used traditionally for treating intestinal carbuncle. Although Patrinia scabiosaefolia has also been suggested for cancer therapy, there has not been any scientific evidence supporting this application. In this study, a panel of human cancer cells, including breast carcinoma MCF-7; hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2; skin melanoma A375; lung carcinoma A549 and prostate adenocarcinoma PC-3,...