Ursolic Acid Induced Apoptosis In Endometrial Carcinoma HHUA Cells

Objective:To study the growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of ursolic acid in the endometrial cancer cell line HHUA and its mechanisms.Methods:The HHUA cells were cultured with ursolic acid at different concentration for different duration.The proliferation inhibition was examined by MTT assay. Apoptosis was detected by morphological examination and flow cytometry.The expression of apoptosis related genes caspase-3 and bcl-2 were detected with RT-PCR and immunocytochemical method.The semi-quantification of protein expression was analyzed by pathological image-analysis.Results:Ursolic acid remarkably inhibited the proliferation of HHUA cells.Apoptosis of HHUA cells were induced by ursolic acid.The morphologic changes of HHUA includes chromatin aggregation,nuclear and cytoplasmic condensation and apoptotic bodies appearance.Ursolic acid caused significant G₀/G₁ phases arrest with a concomitant decrease of cell population in S and G₂/M phase.The early apoptotic rate of HHUA cell was(29.1±2.43)%when exposed to 40μmol/L for 72h.The expression of caspase-3 gene was enhanced while the expression of anti-apoptotic gene bcl-2 was decreased.All these effects were in a dose and time-dependent manner.Conclusion:1.Ursolic acid can inhibit the proliferation of HHUA cells in vitro.2.This effect maybe related to the immediate changes of the cell cycle and the inducing apoptosis of HHUA cells.3.The possible mechanism of inducing apoptosis is that ursolic acid can regulate the expression of caspase-3,bcl-2 in HHUA cells.