Study of radiation sensitization of artesunate on human HeLa cells of cervical cancer

Objective To investigate the radiosensitizing effects of artesunate on human HeLa cells of cervical cancer in vitro.Methods Hela cells were irradiated with 60Co γ-rays.The dose rate was 0.635 Gy/min and the radiation dose was 0,1,2,4,6 Gy,respectively.The anti-proliferation activities of artesunate on HeLa cells were evaluated with MTT assay,to determine the most appropriate drug concentration.The effect of radiosensitivity was observed by using clonogenic assay.The single-hit multitarget model was used to plot the HeLa cell's dose-survival curve,to calculate mean lethal dose,quasithreshold dose and sensitization enhancement rate,and to evaluate its radiosensitization effect.The apoptosis was analyzed with flow cytometry (FCM) to further test the radiation senseitization of artesunate on HeLa cells.Results The inhibition of artesunate on HeLa cells increased with concentration.In radiation group,the cell cloning efficiency were 91.67% ,82.02% ,58.60% ,25.01%,respectively,and in artesunate (2.0 μ mol/L) + radiation group,the cell cloning efficiency were 74.93% ,60.53% ,22.38% ,5.05%.In radiation group and artesunate (2.0 μmol/L) + radiation group,the mean lethal dose(D0) was 2.95 and 2.07 Gy,respectively,while the qusai-threshold dose (Dq) were 2.01 and 1.24 Gy,respectively,and SER was 1.43.Compared with 2 and 6 Gy radiation group,the apoptosis rate of drug + radiation group increased from 12.26% ,40.08% to 22.71% ,59.92%.Conclusions The inhibiting effect of artesunate on HeLa cells is concentration-dependent.Artesunate has radiosensitizing effect on HeLa cells in vitro. Key words: Radiosensitization; Artesunate; HeLa cell; Apoptosis