Abstract:

Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common human malignancies. A cure for CRC with TP53 and KRAS mutations remains elusive. Thus, the development of more efficient therapeutic approaches for the treatment of these patients is required. Induction of tumor cell death by certain phytochemicals derived from medicinal herbs has become a new frontier for cancer therapy research. Although the cancer suppressive effect of Punica granutum L (pomegranate) juice (PGJ) has been determined in CRC, the effect of PGJ depend on mutation status has not been investigated. Material and Method: The anti-proliferative activity of PGJ was tested in the SW480 cell line using the WST-1 assay. To determine the effect of PGJ on cell cycle and apoptosis progression in TP53 and KRAS mutated CRC, the expression levels of BIRC5, CCND1 and BCL2 were analyzed in SW480 cells using RT-qPCR. Results: According to the obtained data, PGJ contains 8,68 ± 0,168 mg/ml ellagic acid. 4% concentration of PGJ inhibited 50% of SW480 cell proliferation in 24h incubation and induced apoptosis though decreasing BCL2 mRNA expression level. Conclusion: The current study is the first to demonstrate the effect of PGJ on modulation of anti-apoptotic gene expression in a TP53 and KRAS mutated CRC cell line which implies the anti-tumor activity independent from p53 and K-Ras signaling pathways. Further studies and validations are required, we suggest that PGJ may be a strong candidate for studies of therapeutic cancer drugs for patients with TP53 and KRAS mutated CRC.

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