The impact of artesunate on proliferation and apoptosis of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells and the influence of Caspase 3 protein expression in vitro

Objective To study the effects of artesunate on proliferation and apoptosis of human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cell and expression of Caspase 3 protein.Methods 5×104 cell/ml gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells were placed in the wells of culture plate and incubated alone(blank control) or with 20,40,80μg /ml artesunate,and tetrazolium blue nitrogen (MTT) solution was added to incubate together.MTT method was used to detect the influence of artesunate on the growth of SGC-7901 cells;cell apoptosis was observed by inverted microscope and DNA ladder of agarose gel electrophoresis after culture in culture plate;changes of Caspase 3 activity were detected by caspase 3 kit.Results The proliferation of human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells were significantly inhibited by artesunate in vitro,and the inhibition rates enhanced in proportion to increase of time(6,12,24 h) and drug concentration(21.89%,32.20%,47.85%,P0.05).The changes of cytomorphology showed that cell apoptosis and necrosis was obvious,and DNA fragmentation was markedly observed by agarose gel electrophoresis.The activity of Caspase 3 increased〔(2.57±0.32),(5.58±0.49),(6.87±0.73),(10.21±0.57) U/ml)〕 in proportion to increase of artesunate concentration (0,20,40,80 μg /ml) (P0.05).Conclusions Artesunate can inhibit proliferation of human gastric cancer cell SGC-7901 and promote their apoptosis.The hyper-expression of Caspase 3 protein might play an important role in promoting apoptosis of human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells.