Recently, cancer chemoprevention with strategies using foods and medicinal herbs has been regardedas one of the most visible fields for cancer control. Genistein in soy, American ginseng, and resveratrolare well-known to have antiproliferative properties in human breast cancer. Licorice root is a botanical,a shrub native to southern Europe and Asia, which primarily has desirable qualities in sweeteningand herbal medicine. In this study, licorice (
Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch) root also inhibits cellproliferation in human breast cancer cell. The cell proliferation study demonstrated that licorice rootreduced the proliferation of MCF-7 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The extracts werefractionated in CHCl
3, EtOAc, C
6H
14, and CH
3OH-H
2O (70:30), and these extracts of licorice root(50
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g/mL) induced DNA fragmentation demonstrated by Hoechst 33258 staining. Apoptosis alsodetermined the sub-G1 accumulation by flow cytometry analysis. These results were consistent withspecific cleavage of PARP and antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 and up-regulation of proapoptotic proteinBax demonstrated by Western blotting. Our findings suggest that licorice root may have chemopreventive effects against human breast cancer through the modulation of the expression of the Bcl-2/Bax family of apoptotic regulatory factors.Keywords: Licorice; MCF-7 cell; Bcl-2; Bax; PARP; apoptosis