Soy-derived Isoflavones Inhibit HeLa Cell Growth by Inducing Apoptosis

Abstract

Isoflavones are among the major bioactive compounds found in a wide variety of plant-derived foods, especially in soybeans and soy-based foods. In this study, the effect of a soy-derived isoflavone mixture (designated as SI-I, containing 71% daidzein, 14.3% genistein and 14.7% glycitein) on HeLa cells and its mechanism were investigated. SI-I in concentration range 5-80 μg/ml significantly reduced the survival rate of HeLa cells by MTT assay, whereas showed no side effect on that of L929 cells. After HeLa cells were exposed to 10, 20 and 40 μg/ml SI-I for 4 days, typical apoptotic morphological changes, including nuclear fragmentation, cytoplasm shrinkage and decrease of cell volume, were observed by fluorescence microscope and CLSM, respectively. FCM analysis revealed that the percentages of early apoptotic cells with lost Δψm increased by 2.27, 2.74 and 4.05 folds respectively, compared with control. The results showed that SI-I inhibited HeLa cell growth through inducing apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway and comparisons with reported data indicated that synergistic effect existed between the isoflavone species contained in SI-I. It is proposed that natural soy-derived isoflavones are potential candidates as chemotherapeutic agents against human cervical cancer.

Concentration-dependent effects of the soy phytoestrogen genistein on the proteome of cultured cardiomyocytes

“…Interestingly, GEN was shown to trigger apoptosis via the ER-dependent up-regulation of cathepsin D in multiple breast cancer cell lines [85]. Our analysis suggests that high levels of GEN may induce apoptosis in cardiomyocytes in accordance with previous reports on other cell types treated by GEN [85][86][87][88].…”

Soybean Peptides Induce Apoptosis in HeLa Cells by Increasing Oxidative Stress

“…Further, SPs exhibit anticancer activity (Saleem, 2009); however, the underlying mechanisms are yet to be determined. A recent study reported that soyderived isoflavone mixtures induced apoptosis in HeLa cells by disrupting mitochondrial membrane potentials (Xiao et al, 2011). Although a previous study reported the cytotoxic effects of soy-derived compounds on HeLa cells, this study did not investigate the cause of cell death.…”

Isoflavone Attenuates the Caspase-1 and Caspase-3 Level in Cell Model of Parkinsonism

“…MPP + can activate apoptosis cascade reaction, reduce the mitochondrial membrane potential, accelerate tumor necrosis factor (TNF) transcript, and activate caspase-3 to open holes in the mitochondrial membrane, enhancing its permeability, which eventually lead to dopaminergic neuron's apoptosis. So we tentatively put forward that isoflavone and caspase inhibitors can prevent cell death and Isoflavone may play the role similar to caspase inhibitors in protecting and directly suppresses “apoptosis executives” activities, which effectively resist apoptosis's occurring [ 15 ]. So the result may be due to the fact that isoflavone suppressed MPP + -induced apoptosis in PC12 cells.…”