| Abstrakt: |
Cervical cancer remains a leading cause of cancer mortality in females. Chemotherapy is important as it was a part of the main treatment for this type of cancer. However, multidrug resistance and serious side effects have been major problems in cervical cancer chemotherapy. Therefore, the search for new anticancer drugs from the native medicinal herbs, is very attractive. The combination extract of eight Thai medicinal herb recipes, namely Phytoplex, is a commercial product of The Government Pharmaceutical Organization, has anti-cancer effect on hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) in vitro. However, the anticancer effects and molecular mechanisms of Phytoplex on cervical cancer have not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effect of Phytoplex on human cervical adenocarcinoma cells (HeLa cells) in vitro. HeLa cells were treated with low concentrations of Phytoplex (50, 100, 500, 1,000 μg/ml) and high concentrations of Phytoplex (2,000 and 5,000 μg/ml) compared with a positive control (0.1% mitomycin C) and a negative control (0 μg/ml of Phytoplex) for 24, 48 and 72 h. Then, cell viability was evaluated using an MTT assay. The activities of caspase-3 (apoptosis marker) and Ki-67 (proliferation marker)†were investigated using an immunofluorescence assay. At 24 h, lower concentrations of Phytoplex promoted cell viability, while higher concentrations inhibited cell viability (P < 0.05). In addition, the inhibitory effect of Phytoplex continuously increased from 24 to 72 h of incubation peroid at high concentrations of Phytoplex. Moreover, Phytoplex inhibited HeLa cell proliferation with an IC50 value of 1,972.43, 1,230.10 and 1,317.67 μg/ml at 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively. The activity of caspase-3 of HeLa cells treated with high concentration of Phytoplex seemed to be higher than of negative control (0 μg/ml). Activity of Ki-67 was higher in lower concentrations of Phytoplex, than that in higher concentrations of Phytoplex. Therefore, HeLa cell growth inhibition was dose-and time-dependent. The study suggested that high concentrations (2,000 and 5,000 μg/ml) of Phytoplex exerted inhibitory effect in HeLa cell growth by inducing apoptosis via activation of caspase-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
