Mechanisms of growth inhibition and apoptosis inducement of quercetin on human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells

Objective To study the mechanism of cell growth inhibition and apoptosis inducement of quercetin on human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells.Methods SMMC-7721 cells in cultural medium in vitro were given 10,30,60 and 100μmol/L quercetin.The inhibitory rate of cells was measured by MTT assay.The cell apoptotic rate was detected by flow cytometry with Annexi-V/PI staining.The expression of bcl-2 and bax in SMMC-7721 cells were detected by cell immuneohistochemistry.Results 30,60 and 100μmol/L qucertin could inhibit the growth of SMMC-7721 cells and cause cell apoptosis significantly(P0.01).The suppression was dependent both on the time and on the dosage.48 hours after the treatment of qucertin,the detection of cell immuneohistochemistry showed the bcl-2 protein down-regulation and bax protein up-regulation (P0.05).Conclusion Qucertin can inhibit the human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells growth by inducing the cell apoptosis in vitro through down-regulation of bcl-2 expression and up-regulation of bax in protein levels.The results indicate that quercetin may be an important and potential anti-hepatocellular carcinoma reagent.