Assessment of Antitumor Activity of Vinca herbacea on Human Ovarian Cancer Cell Line

It seems that Vinca. herbacea has an anti-tumor effect. Here, the immunotherapeutic effect of this compound is assessed against human ovarian cancer (SKOV3) cells because of the high incidence of this tumor in women. The cytotoxic activity of V. herbacea extract against human ovarian cancer (SKOV3) cells was determined by MTT assay. The apoptosis-inducing potential of V. herbacea extract was investigated using the FITC-V Annexin kit. The Matrigel invasion assay was used to investigate the ability of V. herbacea extract in reducing ovarian cancer cells invasion. Real-time PCR using specific primers was performed to investigate the expression of angiogenesis (VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and VEGF-A), apoptosis (Bcl-2 and Bax), and metastasis (MMP2 and MMP9) genes. V. herbacea caused a significant cytotoxic effect against human ovarian cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. V. herbacea induced apoptosis in SKOV3 cells through caspase-3 activation and an increase in the expression ratio of Bax/Bcl-2. V. herbacea inhibited cancer cells’ angiogenesis, which was evident by the significant reduction in the expression of angiogenesis-related genes, including VEGF, VEGFR-1, and VEGFR-2. Besides, V. herbacea inhibited cancer cell adhesion and invasion. V. herbacea extract elicits a robust cytostatic effect in SKOV3 cells by modulating the activity and or the expression of proteins regulating the process of cellular apoptosis, adhesion invasion, and angiogenesis.