Catechin hydrate inhibits proliferation and mediates apoptosis of SiHa human cervical cancer cells.

Abstract

Catechin hydrate (CH), one of the chemical compounds in green tea, has been shown to inhibit tumor growth. In this study, we sought to characterize the DNA damage and downstream genes targeted by CH extracts using SiHa human cervical cancer cells. The efficacy of CH in killing cervical cancer cells in vitro was investigated in this study to determine whether CH could be developed as a therapeutic agent for cervical cancer. CH showed a 50% inhibition of SiHa human cervical cancer cells at a concentration of 196.07 μg/mL at 24 h. CH induced the several folds increase of caspase-3, -8 and - 9 after 24 h and 48 h; the increase of these genes may be involved in the induction of apoptosis. The analysis of apoptosis by DeadEnd terminal transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin-end labeling (TUNEL) assay was used to further confirm that CH induced apoptosis. The results suggested that CH has the potential to benefit cervical cancer prevention. This is the first report that shows the possible mechanism of the anti-proliferative effects of CH in the prevention of cervical cancer in cell culture models.Further study may increase our understanding of the mechanism by which CH has an effect on cervical cancer therapy.