THE EFFECTS OF INDOMETHACIN ON HEPATOMA (HEP G2) CELL LINE

Objective: Antiproliferative effectiveness of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatoty drugs (NSAID) has been shown on colon, esophagus, stomach carcinoma, and CML cell lines in several experimental studies. In this study, effects of 100 and 200 mu M/L indomethacin doses, an indol-derived nonselective NSAID, on hepatocellular cancer cell line (Hep G2) were investigated. Material and Method: This study was done by addition of indomethacin in different concentrations (100 mM/L and 200 mM/L) into Hep G2 in vitro. After 96 hours, study and control groups were evaluated for cell counts, proliferative index (PI) and apoptosis rates. Results: At the end of the study, cell counts were found to be 775 +/- 837/mu L in the control group, 437 +/- 354/mu L in indomethacin 100 mu M/L group and 187 +/- 356/mu L in indomethacin 200 mu M/L group. In flow cytometric evaluation, cell PI were determined as 47.56 +/- 9.46% at the dose of 100 mu M/L indomethacin, and 48.86 +/- 16.47% at the dose of 200 mu M/L indomethacin, while the cell PI in the control group was found to be 49.61 +/- 14.88%. Apoptosis rates detected with flow cytometric methods were 0.75 +/- 0.88% in the control group, 0.44 +/- 0.78% in indomethacin 100 mu M/L group and 1.0 +/- 2.0% in indomethacin 200 mu M/L group. Conclusion: No statistically significant differences were detected between the study groups and the control group for cell counts, proliferation and apoptosis rates. These results show that indomethacin at the doses used in this study, has no effect on apoptosis, proliferation and cell counts of Hep G2 cells.