The effects of oridonin on cell growth, cell cycle, cell migration and differentiation in melanoma cells.

Oridonin, a diterpenoid isolated from Rabdosia rubescens (Hemsl.) Hara, is currently one of the most important traditional Chinese herbal medicines. We investigated the anti-proliferation effect of oridonin on the cultured murine melanoma cell line K1735M2. The growth inhibition activity of oridonin for K1735M2 cells occurred in a time- and dose-dependent manner (IC50 was 7.4+/-0.6 microM). Further studies showed that these inhibition effects were associated with dose-dependent G2/M phase arrest and differentiation induction. Detection of morphological observation showed that oridonin could induce K1735M2 cells to produce dendrite-like structures. The results of the migration indicated that oridonin affected motility of K1735M2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggested that oridonin is a potential candidate for melanoma cancer therapy.