Study on apoptosis of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells induced by Casticin.

Objective:To study the effects of Casticin on the proliferation and apoptosis induction of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells,and explore the mechanism.Methods:Human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells were treated with 0,0.5,1.0,2.0umol/l Casticin and the cell proliferation inhibition rates were determined by MTT assay 12h,24 h and 48 h after treatment.Morphological changes of cell nuclei were observed by Hoechst 33342 staining.In addition,cell apoptosis rates and cell cycle were determined by flow cytometry,and RT-PCR was employed to detect the expression of survivin mRNA.Results:It was demonstrated by MTT assay that the growth of HepG2 cells was inhibited by Casticin in a time and dose-dependent manner.The chromatine concentration and apoptotic cells with high concentrations were observed by Hoechst 33342 staining.The percentage of cells in G2 /M phase increased,After treatment with Casticin,apoptosis rate of HepG2 cells increased with the increase of concentration(P 0.05).It was indicated by RT-PCR that the expression of survivin mRNA in HepG2 cells treated with Casticin was downregulated.Conclusion:Casticin has inhibitory effects on HepG2 cell proliferation and can induce cell apoptosis in vitro,which may be related to the inhibition of the expression of survivin mRNA.