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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1507042
This article is part of the Research Topic Medicinal Plants from the Americas: A Source of Biologically Active Extracts and Metabolites View all articles

Asparagus officinalis L. extract exhibits anti-proliferative and anti-invasive effects in endometrial cancer cells and a transgenic mouse model of endometrial cancer

Provisionally accepted
Ziwei Fang Ziwei Fang 1Weimin Kong Weimin Kong 1Ziyi Zhao Ziyi Zhao 2Wenchuan Sun Wenchuan Sun 2Guangxu Xu Guangxu Xu 3Leslie H Clark Leslie H Clark 2Stephanie A Sullivan Stephanie A Sullivan 2Arthur-Quan Tran Arthur-Quan Tran 2Chang-Sheng Zhou Chang-Sheng Zhou 4Delin Sun Delin Sun 5Luyu Zhao Luyu Zhao 6Jiandong Wang Jiandong Wang 1Chunxiao Zhou Chunxiao Zhou 2*Victoria Bae-Jump Victoria Bae-Jump 2
  • 1 Department of Gynecology, Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
  • 2 Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
  • 3 Department of Gynecology, Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital South Campus, Shanghai, China
  • 4 Shandong Juxinyuan Asparagus Industry Development Research Institute, HeZe, 274400, Shandong, PR, China, Heze, China
  • 5 Shandong Juxinyuan Asparagus Industry Development Research Institute,, Heze, China
  • 6 Shandong Juxinyuan Agricultural Technology Co, LTD, Heze, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Endometrial cancer is the most common malignancy of the female reproductive system in the United States.Asparagus officinalis is a versatile, nutrient-dense, low-calorie vegetable that contains various bioactive metabolites that have shown a variety of biologic functions beneficial to health. The metabolites from asparagus officinalis extracts or asparagus officinalis extracts exhibit significant anti-tumorigenic activity in some preclinical models of cancer. This study was conducted to analyze the effects of Asparagus officinalis extracts on anti-tumorigenic activity in human endometrial cancer cell lines and a Lkb1 fl/fl p53 fl/fl transgenic mouse model of endometrial cancer. Treatment with increasing concentrations of Asparagus officinalis extracts significantly inhibited cell proliferation, reduced glycolytic activity, induced cellular stress and apoptosis, caused cell cycle G1 arrest, increased the sensitivity of cells to cisplatin, reduced cell adhesion and invasion, and activation of AMPK and inhibition of the AKT/mTOR and MAPK signaling pathways in endometrial cancer cells. Moreover, treatment with asparagus officinalis extract for 4 weeks resulted in a significant reduction in tumor growth in both obese and lean Lkb1 fl/fl p53 fl/fl mice. Overall, these findings provide strong pre-clinical evidence for the potential therapeutic benefit of Asparagus officinalis extract as a novel dietary strategy for the treatment of endometrial cancer.

    Keywords: Asparagus officinalis, endometrial cancer, Apoptosis, invasion, Synergy, Tumor growth

    Received: 07 Oct 2024; Accepted: 20 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fang, Kong, Zhao, Sun, Xu, Clark, Sullivan, Tran, Zhou, Sun, Zhao, Wang, Zhou and Bae-Jump. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chunxiao Zhou, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.