α-Tomatine affected mitochondrial apoptotic or anti-apoptotic protein levels.

(A) α-Tomatine induced Mcl-1s and Bak up-regulations (pro-apoptotic) but did not affect Bcl-2 and Bid protein levels in the HL60 cells. (B) In the K562 cells, α-tomatine significantly enhanced the activation of Bak and up-regulated Mcl-1s; however α-tomatine did not influence Bcl-2 and Bid protein expressions. Both cell lines were treated with 5 µM α-tomatine for the indicated intervals. Data are expressed from at least three separate determinations.