Asiatic acid exerts anticancer potential in human ovarian cancer cells via suppression of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling.

AbstractContext Asiatic acid, a triterpenoid compound extracted from the tropical medicinal plant Centella asiatica (Family: Apiaceae), has exhibited various biological activities.Objective This study was performed to investigate the cytotoxic effects of asiatic acid on human ovarian cancer cells.Materials and methods SKOV3 and OVCAR-3 ovarian cancer cells were exposed to different concentrations of asiatic acid (10–100 μg/mL) for 72 or 48 h. Cell viability, colony formation, cell cycle distribution, apoptotic response were examined. Involvement of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway was tested.Results At the concentration of 40 μg/mL, asiatic acid caused about 50% reduction in the viability of ovarian cancer cells, but had little effect on the viability of normal human ovarian epithelial cells. Asiatic acid at 10 μg/mL reduced colony formation of ovarian cancer cells by 25–30%. Asiatic acid-treated cells showed a cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase and 7...