Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine (Mar 2020)

Silymarin inhibits Toll-like receptor 8 gene expression and apoptosis in Ramos cancer cell line

  • Nasrin Ranjbar,
  • Ramin Saravani,
  • Zohreh Faezizadeh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22038/ajp.2019.13681
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 2
pp. 161 – 169

Abstract

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Objective: Silymarin is a herbal extract containing flavonolignans, and it has inhibitory effects against the growth of different cancer cell lines by inducing apoptosis. Toll-like receptors are suggested as a novel and attractive target to treat cancer. The current study aimed at examining the mechanism of silymarin-induced apoptosis in Ramos cells and investigating its effects on TLR8 expression. Materials and Methods: The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of silymarin in Ramos cells was determined via MTT viability test while the type of cell death was tested by annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) double staining method. The activity of caspase-3 and expression of TLR8 were measured in a time-dependent manner (in IC50) by colorimetric assay and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. Results: The results of MTT showed that IC50 of silymarin in Ramos cells was 100 μg/ml after 48 hr treatment (pConclusion: The results indicated a new mechanism in the anticancer activity ofToll-like receptor (TLR) signaling after silymarin treatment in Ramos cancer cell line. This plant could be used to develop anticancer agents inhibiting TLRs.

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