Effect of Lycium depressum Root on Bax , Bcl-2 Gene Expressions and Evaluation of Caspase 3 and 6 Activity on Uterine Cervical Cancer cells line (Hela)

Cervical cancer is the third cause of death caused by cancer in women. After breast cancer, cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women. Today, due to the numerous side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy that are caused to the patient as a result of their use, as well as the resistance of cancer cells to common treatments, researchers have turned to new drugs with greater effectiveness and less toxicity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Lycium depressum root on the expression of Bcl2 and Bax genes and to evaluate the activity of caspases 3 and 6 in cervical cancer cells (Hela). In this study, firstly, the extract of Lycium depressum root was obtained by soaking method, then cervical cancer cells were prepared and cultured, in order to calculate the optimal effective dose of the extract, the MTT technique was used. The concentrations of 25 and 50 mg/ml were chosen as optimal doses. Then the expression of Bcl2 and Bax genes was evaluated by Real-time PCR technique. Next, in order to evaluate the activity of caspases 3 and 6 in effective doses of the extract, cervical cancer cells (Hela) were affected and protein expression was measured using the immunocytochemistry (ICC) technique. The results of this research showed that the roots of the Turkmen oleander plant can cause changes in the expression of important Bcl2 and Bax genes in the path of apoptosis induction. In addition, it increases the protein expression of caspase 3 and 6 in cancer cells. Therefore, it can be hoped that in additional research on the extract of Lycium depressum root, it will be considered a candidate for the treatment of complementary medicine.