The purpose of this study explored the role of Kaempferol on anti-angiogenic property and the mechanism of human umbilical cell (HUVECs) apoptosis. In this report,Kaempferol dose- and time-dependently inhibited viability of HUVECs. In in vitro study, Kaemferol induced apoptotic death of HUVECs by detecting DNA fragmentation and promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS) production using flow cytometric assay. In addition, the extrinsic caspase singnaling (caspase-8 and caspase-3) were activated in Kaempferol-treated HUVECs, and their inhibitors were applied to check the singnal transduction. We investigated the upstream of death receptor pathway and further observed that the levels of death receptor 5 (DR5) and phosphorylated c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signals were up-regulated in HUVECs aftter Kaempferol challenge, which were confirmed by a JNK specific inhibitor (SO600125). Hence, Kaempferol-induced endothelial cell apoptosis was involved in an ROS/JNK-regulated DR5 pathway. IN summary, Kaempferol might process a potential therapeutic effect for anti-vascular targeting of angiogenesis during cancer treatment.
