The effect of Vitamin C on the growth of cervical carcinoma HeLa cells in vivo

Aim To study the effect of Vitamin C on growth and apoptosis of human cervical cancer cell line HeLa and its mechanisms. Methods HeLa cell line was treated with VitC. Cell proliferation was evaluated with MTT assay. The distribution of cell cycle,the rate of apoptosis and the expression of HPV18 E6,p53,Bax and Bcl-2 protein of the heLa cells, were observed using flow cytometer respectively. TRAP-PCR-ELISA assay was used to evaluate telomerase activity. Results Vitamin C arrested the HeLa cell line in G_0/G_1 phase in a dose and time-dependent manner, and significantly inhibited HeLa cells growth and increased the rate of apoptosis.Expression of HPV18 E6 and Bcl-2 proteins, was down regulated expression of p53 and Bax proteins was upregulated, and the telomerase activity was reduced. Conclusion Vitamin C can significantly inhibit HeLa cells growth and proliferation,arrest them in G_0/G_1 phase and induce their apoptosis.The reason of these changes is the decrease of E6 gene′s expression, and the succedent changes of proteins′ expression in cancer cells,including the downregulated expression of HPV18 E6 and Bcl-2 proteins, upregulated expression of p53 and Bax proteins and reduced telomerae activity.