Effect of Saikosaponins-d on cell cycle arrest and p27 expression of HepG2 cells in vitro

Objective To observe the effect of Saikosaponins-d (SSd) on cell cycle arrest and p27 expression of HepG2 cells.Methods HepG2 cells were cultured and divided into two groups randomly.The cell cycle of HepG2 was determined by FCM,the expression level of p27 mRNA and protein was detected by using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry respectively.Results The proportion of HepG2 cells in G1 phase (69.43 ± 3.01 ) ％ in experimental group was higher than that (62.83 ± 2.72 ) ％ in control group significantly ( P ＜ 0.05 ),but that in S phase (22.30 ±0.82)％ was fewer than that (27.23 ±0.59)％ in control group (P ＜0.01 ).The p27 mRNA expression level of HepG2 in experimental group (0.566 ±0.001 ) was higher than that (0.335 ±0.000)in control group (P ＜ 0.05),and the p27 protein expression level ( 33.9 ± 3.1 ) ％ was higher than that (21.9 ± 1.7)％ of control group (P ＜0.01 ).Conclusion SSd could up-regulate p27 mRNA and protein expression of HepG2 cells and resulted in cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. Key words: Carcinoma,hepatocellular; Saikosaponins-d; p27 ; Cell cycle