The Herbal Supplement Induces G2 Arrest and Apoptosis in A549 Cells In Vitro

Abstract

In treating cancer, an important health problem, alternative treatment approaches with herbal content continue to be investigated. The study was carried out to determine an herbal supplement's cytotoxic effect and anticancer potential on lung cancer cells. Human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells were treated with the herbal supplement and cisplatin. The supplement's growth inhibitory and anticancer potential were determined by MTT assay, Annexin V–PI apoptosis assay, cell cycle analysis, and real-time PCR analysis of the apoptosis and cell cycle-related genes. The herbal supplement was determined to have significant growth inhibitory effects on A549 cells. Results of the apoptosis and cell cycle analysis showed that the supplement caused a significant increase in the rate of late apoptotic cells and induced G2 arrest. Gene expression analysis results showed that pro-apoptotic BAK1, BAX, APAF1, and cell cycle inhibitor CDKN1A significantly increased mRNA levels without altering BCL2 and TP53 expressions in A549 cells. Our experiments have shown that the herbal supplement has a potential anticancer effect on the lung cancer A549 cell line through growth inhibition and apoptosis. However, more in vitro studies and in vivo experiments are needed.

Keywords

• Herbal supplement
• cancer
• apoptosis
• cell cycle
• antiproliferative

References

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