Effects of indole-3-carbinol on the proliferation and apoptosis of human liver cancer cell line SMMC-7721

Objective To investigate the effects of indole-3-carbinol on the proliferation and apoptosis of human liver cancer cell line SMMC-7721.Methods The growth status of SMMC-7721 was observed under Microscope.The inhibition of cell proliferation was assayed by WST-1 agent,and the apoptosis was shown with Hochest33258 and TUNEL staining.The apoptosis related protein were detected by Western blot.Results I3C could inhibit the proliferation of SMMC-7721 and induced the apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner.The cell proliferation was slow at doses below 250 μmol/L of I3C.And a large proportion of apoptotic cells were observed at doses above 300 μmol/L of I3C.Furthermore,the expressionsof Cyt C、 Cleaved caspase-9 and Cleaved caspase-3 increased significantly when I3C at concentrations higher than 200 μmol/L.With the increase of I3C concentration,three kinds of protein expression also increased significantly.Conclusion I3C could significantly inhibit the human liver cancer cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in a dose dependent manner.