Total secondary saponins from Anemone raddeana suppress pancreatic cancer via Caspase-3/GSDME-mediated pyroptosis.

Authors

Luanwei Han, Mingshu Li, Qiao Li, Anqi Lu, Chongning Lv, Yang Yu, Jincai Lu

Published in

Chinese herbal medicines. Volume 18. Issue 4. Pages 993-1006. Epub Jun 26, 2026.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is highly lethal and resistant to current therapies, underscoring the need for novel strategies that target regulated cell death. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-PC efficacy of total secondary saponins (TSS) from Anemone raddeana and elucidate the mechanism by which TSS induces pyroptosis.
TSS components were characterized by mass spectrometry. Anti-tumor effects were assessed in vitro using human pancreatic cancer cell lines (PANC-1 and AsPC-1 cells) and in vivo using xenograft mouse model. Integrated multi-omics analyses (network pharmacology, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics) identified core components, targets, and pathways. Key findings were validated by molecular docking, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting.
Mass spectrometry identified 17 C-3 monosaccharide triterpenoid saponins in TSS. Both in vitro and in vivo models confirmed that TSS can significantly inhibit PC cell proliferation by inducing pyroptosis through the Caspase-3/gasdermin E (GSDME) pathway. Multi-omics highlighted hederacolchiside A1 as a core compound and revealed its regulation of inflammation, proliferation, and oxidative stress through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways. Molecular docking and Western blotting analysis confirmed activation of downstream pyroptosis mechanisms.
This study demonstrates that TSS suppresses PC progression by regulating Caspase-3/GSDME-mediated pyroptosis through modulation of PI3K/Akt and NF-κB signaling pathways, supporting its potential as a novel therapeutic candidate for PC.

PMID:
42948729
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.