Asarum sieboldii has been used to treat pain and inflammation in traditional Korean medicine as a
medicinal and food plant. In the previous study, we reported that water extracts of A. sieboldii (WEAS)
has cytotoxic effects on A549 human lung carcinoma cells. In this study, it was analyzed that the effects
of WEAS on the apoptotic activity and the expression levels of apoptosis-related genes in A549 cells.
Treatment of WEAS to A549 cells resulted in the induction of apoptotic cell death in a dose-dependent
manner as measured by hemocytometer counts, fluorescent microscope and cytometry analysis. The
induction of apoptosis of A549 cells by WEAS treatment was associated with an up-regulation of
pro-apoptotic Bax expression, and a down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and inhibitor of apoptosis
proteins (IAPs) expression. WEHC treatment induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3, -8 and -9,
and a concomitant degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and β-catenin protein. Taken
together, these results indicated that the inhibitory effect of WEAS on the cell viability in A549 cells
was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death through regulation of several major growth
regulatory gene products such as Bcl-2 family expression and caspase protease activity. Though further
studies will be needed to identify the active compounds that confer the anti-cancer activity of WEAS,
the present findings provide important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the
apoptotic activity of WEAS in cancer cells.

Keywords: Asarum sieboldii, Apoptosis, Bcl-2, Caspase, Lung carcinoma