Ginsenoside from Panax ginseng Meyer Enhances the Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Effect of Cisplatin in A549 Human Lung Cancer Cells

Ginsenosides from Panax ginseng Meyer have been used in combination with cisplatin to enhance anticancer potential of cisplatin. However, the combined effects of ginsenoside Rf and cisplatin has not been studied so far. Thus, we evaluated the anticancer activity of ginsenoside Rf alone and combined with cisplatin by using A549 cell line. Our results showed that cytotoxicity, reactive oxygen species generation and apoptotic effect of cisplatin at 1 µg/ml was enhanced by ginsenoside Rf along with the increase of p53 expression at protein and gene level, as well as reduction of the mRNA expression levels of Bcl-2 and Bax was higher for the combined treatment. Further, phosphorylation of epithelial growth factor receptors induced by cisplatin alone was decreased after exposing the cells to the combined treatment. Similarly, the motility of the cells was higher decreased after combining cisplatin and ginsenoside Rf than single drug treatment. In this study, ginsenoside Rf increased the anticancer effect of cisplatin on A549 cells.