The Role Of Parthenolide In The Inhibition Of Proliferation And Regulation Of Apoptosis Of The Human Cervical Carcinoma Hela Cells

Parthenolide has good antitumor effects, and in this study, we examined the effect of parthenolide on different kinds of cancer cells. We used the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay to determine the effect of parthenolide on the inhibition of proliferation of the human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells. We determined the rate of apoptosis using flow cytometry. The expression levels of caspase-9, caspase-8, and caspase-3 were detected using substance P (SP) immunocytochemistry. The results of the MTT assay showed that parthenolide significantly inhibited the growth of different kinds of cancer cells, and we observed the sub-G1 peak using flow cytometry. The fragment characteristic to cytochrome C was detected using a monoclonal antibody of cytochrome C to determine the effect of treatment with parthenolide on the cytochrome C levels in HeLa cells. The level of cytochrome c increased 24 h after treatment with parthenolide. The level of cytochrome C at 24 h was significantly higher than that at 0 h; subsequently, the cytochrome c levels decreased. Results of immunocytochemical staining showed that parthenolide affected the expression levels of caspase-9, caspase-8, and caspase-3 in the HeLa cells. The positive rate of protein expression calculated using the formula showed a statistically significant difference in the expression levels of these proteins (P < 0.05). The results showed that parthenolide could alter the expression of caspase-9, caspase-8, and caspase-3.