The effect of 17 sesquiterpenes on cell viability and telomerase activity in the human ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910

Using the MTT assay and the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP)-based PCR-ELISA assay, the cytotoxicity and telomerase inhibiting ability of 17 sesquiterpenes (extracted from Chinese herbs) were tested in the human ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910. The results indicated that seven sesquiterperies inhibited cell proliferation without having an effect on telomerase activity; two sesquiterpenes inhibited neither cell proliferation nor telomerase activity; and the other eight sesquiterpenes inhibited both cell proliferation and telomerase activity to a certain extent. Without exception, none of these 17 sesquiterpenes could only inhibit telomerase activity without inhibiting cell proliferation. This indicated that the telomerase inhibiting activity is not a universal mechanism for all anticancer drugs but is only one of several possible mechanisms. The structure-activity relationships of 5 groups of sesquiterpenes are also discussed. This study may help to develop anticancer drugs.