The pharmacological actions of Ophiopogonin D include resistance to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, anti-aging effects, improvement in learning deficit and dysmnesia, anti-tumor, anti-radiation and anti-inflammatory effects, immunoregulation, and the relief of cough and hepatopulmonary pathological lesions. However, the efficacy of Ophiopogonin D on human laryngocarcinoma remains to be elucidated. The present study therefore investigated whether the anti-cancer effect of Ophiopogonin D inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis of human laryngocarcinoma. In the present study, it was found that Ophiopogonin D inhibited cell proliferation, promoted cytotoxicity, induced apoptosis and increased caspase-3/9 activity in human laryngocarcinoma cells. Ophiopogonin D significantly suppressed cyclin B1 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) protein expression, and upregulated p-p38 MAPK protein expression in human laryngocarcinoma cells. Together, these results suggest Ophiopogonin D inhibits cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in human laryngocarcinoma cells through downregulation of cyclin B1 and MMP-9 and upregulation of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. Therefore, Ophiopogonin D may be a potential therapy for the treatment of human laryngocarcinoma.
Keywords: MMP-9; Ophiopogonin D; cyclin B1; laryngocarcinoma; p38 MAPK.