Effect of Ginseng, Ginseng polysaccharides and Ginsenoside on the human lung cancer cells A549 in co-culture system of TAMs with A549 cells

This study was aimed to explore the anti-tumor functions of Ginseng on the human lung cancer cells A549, through investigating the effects of water extract of Ginseng(WEG), Ginseng polysaccharides(GPS)and Ginseng total saponins(GTS)on cell proliferation, cell migration and cytoskeleton of A549 cells. Using A549 cells as target cells, the TAMs model in vitro was established from THP-1. MTT method was used to observe the effects of different concentrations of WEG, GPS, GTS on A549 cells in co-culture system of TAMs with A549 cells. The cell migration of A549 cells was assayed by real-time cell analysis(RTCA). The cytoskeleton of A549 cells was detected by high content screening(HCS). It showed that in the co-culture system, WEG inhibited the proliferation, migration, and the area of cytoskeleton on A549 cells significantly(P< 0. 01). GPS inhibited A549 cell migration and the area of cytoskeleton(P < 0. 01)in co-culture system, but it showed no significant effect on the proliferation of A549 cells. Moreover, GTS can significant inhibit the proliferation of A549 cells(P< 0. 01), and the effect on the cell migration and the area of cytoskeleton was in conspicuous in the co-culture system. It was found that the two main components of ginseng showed different functions by the comparison of WEG, GPS, GTS in TAMs co-culture system. Results indicate that the antitumor effects of ginseng may be due to its multi-component regulation in the tumor microenvironment.