Apoptosis-inducing Effect of Solanum lyratum Thunb Extract on Human Breast Cancer MCF-7 Cells and the Expression of Apoptosis Associated Genes

Objective To explore the apoptosis-inducing effect of Solanum lyratum Thunb extract(STE) and the expression of apoptosis associated genes survivin and caspase-3 on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.Methods MCF-7cells were treated with 2.5,5 and 10 mg/L STE for 48 h,and the cells were treated with 2.5 mg/L DDP as positive control.The inhibitory rate was evaluated by MTT assay.Apoptotic rate was determined by TUNEL method.The expression of survivin and caspase-3 mRNA was detected by semi-quantitive RT-PCR.Results Compared with control group,the inhibitory rate was increased obviously(P0.001),the apoptotic rate was increased markedly(P0.001),the expression of caspase-3 mRNA was increased significantly(P0.001),while survivin mRNA was decreased markedly(P0.05 or P0.01) in STE groups.Conclusion STE can induce MCF-7 cells apoptosis.The molecular mechanism might be related to up-regulating expression of caspase-3 and down-regulating expression of survivin genes.