Page 202 - 2025中醫藥與天然藥物聯合學術研討會-中醫藥與天然藥物的挑戰Ｘ機遇與未來大會手冊

PP-20

Exploring the in vitro anti-glioblastoma potential and the constituents of

Artemisia argyi methanol and water extracts

2
#,1
Tzu-Wei Lin, Kun-Teng Wang, Chien-Ju Lin* ,1

1 School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung
807378, Taiwan
2 HERBIOTEK Co., LTD., New Taipei City 231030, Taiwan
* E-mail: mistylin@kmu.edu.tw

Abstract
Glioma is the most prevalent and aggressive form of brain tumor, often associated with poor
prognosis despite current standard treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy, and
chemotherapy. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic strategies is urgently needed.
Artemisia argyi Levl. et Vant., a traditional medicinal herb known for its hemostatic and anti-
cancer properties, was investigated for its potential anti-glioma effects in this study. Methanol
(AAM) and water (AAW) extracts of A. argyi significantly suppressed cell viability and colony
formation in two glioma cell lines, A172 and T98G. However, these two extracts only slightly
affected normal neuroglial cells (SVGp12), suggesting AAM and AAW has lower toxicity
toward normal cell. Mechanistically, both AAM and AAW induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest
by upregulating GADD45A, while downregulating the expression of cyclin B, cyclin A and
CDK1. Furthermore, these extracts promoted apoptosis, as evidenced by caspase-8, 9, 3
activation and PARP cleavage, and inhibited glioma cell invasion, migration and adhesion
through the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins, notably
increasing E-cadherin and decreasing N-cadherin and vimentin expression. Previous studies
have shown that the GSK3β signaling pathway is involved in cell proliferation, cell death, cell
cycle regulation, apoptosis, and cancer metastasis. In this study, the results showed that AAM
and AAW can activate the GSK3β signaling pathway, but the detailed mechanism requires
further investigation. Subsequent liquid-liquid extraction separated the AAM and AAW extracts
into aqueous (AAM-W, AAW-W) and ethyl acetate (AAM-E, AAW-E) fractions. Notably, the
ethyl acetate fractions exhibited more potent anti-glioma activity, suggesting that the active
compounds are likely enriched in these fractions. Furthermore, GC-MS analysis was employed
to identify the components in Artemisia argyi extracts, revealing 85 and 19 compounds in the
AAM and AAW fractions, respectively. These identified compounds may represent potential
candidates for future anti-cancer drug development.

Keywords: Malignant glioma; Artemisia argyi; GSK3β signaling pathway; GC-MS