RESUMO
AIM:To investigate the effect of 3,5-hydroxy-6,7,3',4'-tetramethoxyflavone (HTMF) isolated from Laggera pterodonta on Hep-2 cell apoptosis and the underlying mechanism.METHODS:The MTT assay was used to observe the cytotoxicity of HTMF to the normal cells and the inhibitory effect of HTMF on the proliferation of tumor cells.The apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry.Western blotting was used to detect the expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9.RESULTS:HTMF significantly inhibited the growth of Hep-2 cells in dose and time dependent manners.HTMF exhibited weak cytotoxicity to the two normal cell lines Vero and EVC304,while showed low effect of anti proliferation on HepG2 cells and A549 cells.The increase in apoptosis of Hep-2 cells by HTMF was observed with dose and time dependent manners.Western blotting showed that HTMF time dependently increased the expression of caspase 3 and caspase-9 in Hep-2 cells.CONCLUSION:HTMF has high inhibitory effect on the proliferation of Hep-2 cells by induction of apoptosis in the tumor cells through caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation.However,the cytotoxicity of HTMF to the normal cells is low.