Study on the apoptosis induced by dihydromyricetin in human ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells and its mechanism

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of dihydromyricetin on the growth and apoptosis of human ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells, and its mechanism.

MethodsThe HO-8910 cells were cultured in vitro, and treated with dihydromyricetin at different concentrations(10, 20 and 40 μmol/L).The proliferation of cells was detected using MTT and CCK-8 method, the apoptosis of cells was detected using the Annexin V-FITC/PI flow cytometry and Hoechst 33258 fluorescence staining, and the expression levels of Caspase-3, Bcl-2, Bax, ERK and p-ERK protein were detected using Western blotting.

ResultsThe results of MTT and CCK-8 was showed that dihydromyricetin could inhibit the growth of HO-8910 cells in a concentration-dependent manner.The results of flow cytometry showed that dihydromyricetin could promote the HO-8910 cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner.The typical morphological changes of apoptosis in HO-8910 cells treated with dihydromyrmectin were found using Hoechst 33258 fluorescence staining.The results of Western blotting showed that dihydromyricetin could up-regulate the levels of Caspase-3 and Bax, and down-regulate the levels of Bcl-2, ERK and p-ERK in HO-8910 cells(P < 0.05).

ConclusionsDihydromyricetin can inhibit the activity of human ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells and induce their apoptosis, and the mechanism of which is related to the regulation of ERK/MAPK signaling pathway.