Antitumor activity of baicalein on the mice bearing U14 cervical cancer

Abstract

Baicalein is one of the major constituents of Scutellaria baicalensis, and some cancer cells could be inhibited by it according to some studies in recent years. Mice tumor models of U14 cervical cancer was established in our study, baicalein of high and low dose (40 and 20 mg/kg, respectively) were given orally to mice. The tumor inhibition rates and the thymus (spleen) weight index were studied, the cell morphologies of tumor, liver and kidney were examined after HE stained, the percentage of apoptotic cells was detected by flow cytometer and the positive expression rates of Bcl-2 and Bax protein in tumor tissues were examined by the standard immunehistochemical SP method. The results showed that baicalein could inhibit the tumor growth obviously with the tumor inhibition rate of 58.98%. Besides, the apoptosis of tumor could be induced by baicalein with the apoptotic percentage of 16.92 ± 0.65%. Moreover, compared with the negative control group, the expression of Bcl-2 was reduced, while that of Bax was increased after the treatment of Baicalein. So, baicalein could inhibit the growth of U14 cervical cancer cells, and it might induce apoptosis by downregulating the level of Bcl-2 protein and upregulating that of Bax.

Key words: Baicalein, U14 cervical cancer, Bcl-2, Bax, apoptosis.