RESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the antitumor effect of apigenin on human lung cancer cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The anti-proliferation and sensitization effects of apigenin on human lung cancer cells was accessed by counting cells after Trypan blue staining and MTS assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) Apigenin significantly suppressed the proliferation of four types of human lung cancer cells (A549:P=0.041, H460:P=0.050, LTEP-a2:P=0.039, H292:P=0.016); (2) Apigenin significantly increased the susceptibility of human lung cancer cells to antitumor drugs (P<0.05 or P<0.01) in a synergistic way (almost all of the combination index values are less than 1).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Apigenin widely inhibits cell proliferation of various lung cancer cell lines in a dose-dependent manner and the combination treatment of apigenin and antitumor drugs is very effective in human lung cancer cells, and Nrf2-ARE pathway may contribute to the mechanism.</p>