Özet:

Cancer, a growing health problem all over the world, is the second most important cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. The ineffectiveness of classical methods (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, etc.) used in cancer treatment has led researchers to discover and develop new therapeutics in cancer treatment. It is known that flavones, a subgroup of flavonoids, have anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiprolerative, and antiangiogenic effects in addition to their biochemical and pharmacological effects. We aimed to determine the cytotoxic effect of Nor-wogonin (5, 7, 8-trihydroxyflavone), a polyhydroxyflavone derivative with various biological activities, on the human cervical cancer cell line and its effect on the expression level of some genes involved in apoptosis. In the study, different concentrations of Nor-wogonin (10, 20, 40, 80 µM) were applied to the cervical (HeLa) cancer cell line. The cytotoxic effect of the compound on cell lines was determined by the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) method and the Nor-wogonin IC50 value for HeLa cells was calculated. In addition, quantitative gene analysis by Q-PCR was performed to observe the effect of Nor-wogonin on the levels of anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic gene expression (bax, p53, caspase-3 and bcl-2 genes) in HeLa cells. It was determined that Nor-wogonin significantly decreased cell viability in HeLa cells depending on the increasing dose (p<0.05). IC50 values for HeLa cells were calculated as 32.09 µM. In addition, it was determined that bax, caspase-3, p53 gene expressions increased and bcl-2 gene expression decreased in HeLa cells. In conclusion, Nor-wogonin, a flavone derivative, can be considered as an important therapeutic agent thanks to its in vitro cytotoxic activity and its effects on anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic gene expression.