ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effect of Punica granatum( pomegranate) see d oil( PSO) on proliferation and apop-tosis behaviors of breast cancer cells.Methods Fatty acid composition was detected by gas chromatography,breast cancer cells, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 were treated with PSO, cell proliferation was observed by MMT, cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry,and expression levels of proliferation and apoptosis-related proteins were detected by Western blot.Results Punicic acid (PA) was the major fatty acid in PSO(74.41%).PSO could inhibit the proliferation while in-ducing apoptosis in both cell lines in a dose-and time-dependent manner, significantly decrease the expression level of Cox-2 and Bcl-2, increase the expression level of Bax and caspase-3 (cleaved),remarkably upregulate the expression of P53 in MCF-7, and downregulate p53 expression in MDA-MB-231.Conclusion PA may be one of the functional ingredients of PSO which can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells.These effects are probably mediated by regu-lating the expression of Cox-2, Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-3 (cleaved) and p53.