Evaluation of the Effects of Coumarin on Apoptotic Genes Expression in Lung and Colorectal Cancer Cells

In recent years, researchers have considered the anticancer activity coumarins, due to their powerful biological activity and poor toxicity that can neutralize the side effects induced by radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effects of coumarin on HT-29 and A549 cancer cells.

In this experimental study, the stoke of coumarin was prepared and then for 1,3, and 5 days at concentrations of5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 μM the cells were treated and evaluated on viability days and morphology of the cells indefinite days. The IC50 concentration of coumarin was calculated using MTT assay in two cell lines. Also, the expression of the involved genes in apoptosis such as Bax, Bad, and Bcl-2 was evaluated by the qRT_PCR method. Data were analyzed by a one-way ANOVA test.

The results showed that coumarin reduced the viability and proliferation of HT-29 and special A549 cells by dose and time significantly (P≤0.001), as well as the viability rate of cells in treated cells on the fifth day, significantly decreased compared to the control group (P <0.05). Morphological changes such as reduced chromatin density, cell turnover were also noticeably observed in the cells. Also, molecular results showed that coumarin could significantly increase the expression of Bax, Bad genes and decrease the expression of Bcl-2 gene expression. That these genetic changes in A549 cells were significantly greater than HT-29.

Coumarin is capable of anti-proliferative activity and induces apoptosis effectively against colon and lung cancer cells.