Effects of Artesunate Combining with Radiation on Apoptosis in Nude Mice Transplanted with HeLa Cells of Cervical Cancer

Objective To investigate the effect of Artesunate combining with radiation on apoptosis in transplanted tumors.Methods HeLa cells were inoculated into the nude mice to develop a tumor model.Mice were randomized into four groups as the control group,the Artesunate group,the irradiation group and the combination group when average volume of tumor achieved about 5 mm×5 mm×5 mm. During the period of treatment,the volume of tumors was measured per 2 days.After 14 days treatment, the mice were killed and tumor tissues were harvest,the tumor size and weight were measured,tumor inhibitory rate calculated and TUNEL assay was used to analysis the apoptosis of tumor tissue.Results The tumor weight in combination group was significantly lower than that than in the irradiation group [(0.64±0.11)gvs(1.31±0.58)g](P0.05),the tumor inhibitory rate was 71.17%.The apoptosis in the combination group was obviously higher than that in the irradiation group[(77.5±8.07 )%vs (48.80±6.71)%](P0.05 ).Conclusion Artesunate can dramatically increase the radiosensitivity of tumor model transplanted with HeLa cells of cervical cancer,the possible mechanism of radiosensitization of Artesunate is related to increasing apoptosis of tumor cells.