Antitumor activity of <i>Scutellaria baicalensis</i> Georgi total flavonoids on mice bearing U14 cervical carcinoma

Abstract

Some studies have shown that Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi total flavonoids (STF) could inhibit the growth of carcinoma cells. However, the effect and mechanism of STF on cervical cancer in vivo was not studied in detail presently; so, our study was to investigate the effect and mechanism of STF on cervical cancer. The mice models bearing U14 cervical cancer were established in our study and STF were orally administered to mice at a dose of 1000, 500 and 250 mg/kg body weight, respectively. The rate of tumor inhibition was studied, and the cell morphology of tumor, liver and kidney were observed after HE staining. The cell cycle and the percentage of apoptotic cells were detected by flow cytometer, and the content of serum proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax gene were assayed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and standard immunohistochemical SP method, respectively. These results showed that the highest tumor inhibition rate was 55.71%, the cell cycle of tumor could be arrested in G₀/G₁ phase, and the content of serum PCNA reduced (P < 0.01), the apoptosis of tumor could be induced by STF treatment with the percentage of 19.15 ± 0.98%. Moreover, compared with the negative control group, the expression of Bcl-2 was reduced and the expression of Bax was increased after STF treatment (P < 0.05). So, we conclude that the growth of U14 cervical cancer could be inhibited by STF, the cell proliferation inhibited by arresting cell cycle, and the cell apoptosis induced by regulating the expression of Bax and Bcl-2 gene by the treatment of STF.

Key words: Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi total flavonoids, U14 cervical cancer, cell cycle, cell apoptosis, Bax, Bcl-2, PCNA.