The effect of citrullus colocynthis extract and Phycocyanin on apoptosis induction and gene expression of caspase-3 and Bax in human colon cancer cell line (HT-29)

Colorectal cancer has been one of the most common cancers over the past few decades and is expected to increase in the future. Since cancer prevention has been proposed as a promising research strategy, we have investigated the effect of Citrullus colocynthis watermelon extract and phycocyanin compound on the growth of colon cancer cells. subsequently evaluated the expression of apoptosis biomarkers including Caspase-3 and Bax proteins

Human colon cancer cells (HT-29) with different concentrations of Citrullus colocynthis extract and phycocyanin were cultured. The percentage of live cells and expression of Caspase-3 and Bax genes were evaluated by MTT and RT-PCR methods. Then, results were analyzed with SPSS software

There was a significant difference in the average percentage of dead cells in volumes 2 to 30 μL from extract, phycocyanin, extract+phycocyanin after 24, 48, and 72 hours (P> 0.05). However, phycocyanin, extract+phycocyanin were more effective in the inhibition of cancer cells (P<0.05). Moreover, the combination of extract+phycocianine and also extract significantly increased Bax gene expression (2.35, 1.67 times, respectively) (P<0.01). The combination of extract+phycocyanin and Citrullus colocynthis extract significantly increased the expression of caspase-3 gene expression in the cancer cells by a factor of 2.15 and 1.75 (P <0.01).

Extract of Citrullus colocynthis, as well as the combination of extract+phycocyanin by increasing the expression of Bax and caspase-3 genes, induce apoptosis in cancerous cells.