Investigation of Potential Anticarcinogenic Effects of Corilagin in Lung Cancer Cells

Objective: Lung cancer (LC) is the most extensive reason of cancer associated deaths in men and women in the world. LC categorizes into two main groups due to their molecular clinicopathological features and therapeutic responses. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the main subgroup that consists of nearly 85% of all lung cancer types. Corilagin, a biologically active ellagitannin, could be extracted from Phyllanthus species which are known as Chinese medicinal plant. It has been recently shown that Corilagin could exert anti-inflammatuar and antioxidative effects in different experimental cancer models. However, the molecular effects of Corilagin in NSCLC remain unclear. Methods: In this study, the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of Corilagin were identified by WST-1 cell proliferation test, caspase-3 and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Results: We found that Corilagin significiantly suppressed the proliferation of NSCLC cells. Furthermore, we also showed that Corilagin could contribute apoptosis by inducing activity of caspase-3 molecule and loss of MMP. Conclusion: Taken together, our study first showed that Corilagin could be a new treatment method for NSCLC after verifying its effects with in vivo and clinical studies.