Research Article Apoptotic Cell Death and Inhibition ofWnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Human Colon Cancer Cells by an Active Fraction (HS7) fromTaiwanofungus camphoratus

1. Introduction
As the diet and life styles of the industrialized Western
countries are adopted globally, the incidence of colorectal
cancer (CRC) is increasing worldwide [1]. It becomes
a second most common cancer and the third leading
cause of cancer death in Taiwan. Fifty percent of patients
diagnosed with CRC will eventually die from the disease,
and less than 10% of patients with metastatic CRC survived
more than 5 years [2]. Lots of studies have been carried
on to search for effective therapeutics targeting on the
molecular pathogenesis of CRC. Nowadays, several effective
chemotherapeutics and molecular targeting agents, such
as bevacizumab and cetuximab, which target VEGFR and
EGFR, respectively, had been introduced into current colon
cancer therapy. However, most of the advanced patients
encountered inevitable relapse. Searching for new therapeutics
targeting on other molecular pathway to improve the
clinical outcome is urgently needed.
The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays an important
role in both embryogenesis and tumorigenesis. Most
sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) and familial adenomatous
polyposis (FAP) have mutated adenomatous polyposis coli
(APC) gene. Normal APC protein could downregulate the
Wnt signaling pathway through its binding to β-catenin and
Axin, but most mutated APC proteins in colorectal tumors
fail to inhibit Wnt signaling, leading to the overproliferation
of tumor cells [3]. Recent researches have implicated that
the aberrant Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays an
important role in several common cancers including liver


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