PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - TIZIANA ROSSI AU - LUISA BENASSI AU - CRISTINA MAGNONI AU - ANTONIO IPPAZIO RUBERTO AU - ANDREA COPPI AU - GIOSUÉ BAGGIO TI - Effects of Glycyrrhizin on UVB-irradiated Melanoma Cells DP - 2005 Jan 01 TA - In Vivo PG - 319--322 VI - 19 IP - 1 4099 - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/19/1/319.short 4100 - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/19/1/319.full SO - In Vivo2005 Jan 01; 19 AB - It is known that liquorice root is rich in compounds which exert several pharmacological actions. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of glycyrrhizin (the main constituent of liquorice root) and of its metabolite aglycone, 18ß-glycyrrhetinic acid, on UVB-irradiated human melanoma cells: SKMEL-2 from metastatic tissue and SKMEL-28 from primary malignant melanoma. Tests performed (Trypan blue exclusion test, MTT and Western blot) showed that glycyrrhizin is not toxic for both types of cells. In SKMEL-28 cells, Bcl-2 expression was low after UVB irradiation, but it was increased when treated with glycyrrhizin. On the contrary, in the SKMEL-2 cell culture, Bcl-2 expression was not modified by the substances under study. The results show that glycyrrhizin treatment might offer protection from the damage induced in humans by UVB radiation, while it seems to be ineffective on metastatic cells. Further studies must be performed to understand the mechanism of the protective effect. Copyright © 2005 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved