Dioscin(CCRIS 4123; Collettiside III) is a natural steroid saponin derived from several plants, showing potent anti-cancer effect against a variety of tumor cell lines. IC50 value:Target: Anticancer agentin vitro: dioscin (1, 2 and 4 μmol/L) could significantly inhibit the viability of LNCaP cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Flow cytometry revealed that the apoptosis rate was increased after treatment of LNCaP cells with dioscin for 24 h, indicating that apoptosis was an important mechanism by which dioscin inhibited cancer [1]. dioscin abrogated AKT phosphorylation, which subsequently impaired RANKL-induced nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) signaling pathway and inhibited NFATc1 transcriptional activity. Moreover, in vivo studies further verified the bone protection activity of dioscin in osteolytic animal model [2]. Dioscin reduced cell death and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in cells subjected to I/R. I/R induced apoptosis and cytochrome c release from mitochondria to the cytosol and this was prevented by dioscin. In support, dioscin decreased Bax but increased Bcl-2 mRNA expression. Dioscin prevented I/R induced dissipation of ΔΨm [3].

References:
[1]. Chen J, et al. Dioscin-induced apoptosis of human LNCaP prostate carcinoma cells through activation of caspase-3 and modulation of Bcl-2 protein family. J Huazhong Univ Sci Technolog Med Sci. 2014 Feb;34(1):125-30.
[2]. Qu X, et al. Dioscin inhibits osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption though down-regulating the Akt signaling cascades. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2014 Jan 10;443(2):658-65.
[3]. Qin J, et al. Dioscin prevents the mitochondrial apoptosis and attenuates oxidative stress in cardiac H9c2 cells. Drug Res (Stuttg). 2014 Jan;64(1):47-52.