Anticancer effects of oligomeric proanthocyanidins on human colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4.

OBJECTIVE

Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC), natural polyphenolic compounds found in plants, are known to have antioxidant and anti-cancer effects. We investigated whether the anti-cancer effects of the OPC are induced by apoptosis on human colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4.

METHODS

Colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4 was cultured in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. The cytotoxic effect of OPC was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenylt-etrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. To find out the apoptotic cell death, 4, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and caspase-3 enzyme assay were performed.

RESULTS

In this study, cytotoxic effect of OPC on SNU-C4 cells appeared in a dose-dependent manner. OPC treatment (100 microg/mL) revealed typical morphological apoptotic features. Additionally OPC treatment (100 microg/mL) increased level of BAX and CASPASE-3, and decreased level of BCL-2 mRNA expression. Caspase-3 enzyme activity was also significantly increased by treatment of OPC (100 microg/mL) compared with control.

CONCLUSIONS

These data indicate that OPC caused cell death by apoptosis through caspase pathways on human colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C4.