Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of grape seed procyanidin extract (GSPE) on cell proliferation and apoptosis in human bladder cancer BIU87 cells and to investigate its molecular mechanism in vitro.
Materials and methods: BIU87 cells were treated with different concentrations of GSPE for 24h in vitro while an untreated group was taken as control. MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay, Hoechst 33258 staining, flow cytometry, RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the anti-proliferation and apoptotic induction effects of GSPE on BIU87 cells.
Results: It was found that GSPE inhibited the cell growth through cell cycle arrest at G1 phase and induced cell apoptosis in BIU87 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Semi-quantitated RT-PCR and Western blot analyses indicated that GSPE increased caspase-3 (p<0.01), but decreased the expression of cyclinD1, CDK4 and survivin (p<0.01).
Conclusions: GSPE inhibits cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in BIU87 cells, and the effect may be related with its down-regulation of cyclinD1, CDK4 and survivin.