Glycyrrhetinic Acid Inhibits Cell Growth and Induces Apoptosis in Ovarian Cancer A2780 Cells

Purpose: Accumulating evidence indicates that glycyrrhizin (GZ) and its hydrolyzed metabolite 18-beta glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) exhibit anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. The objective of this study was to examine the in vitro cytotoxic activity of GA on human ovarian cancer A2780 cells. Methods: A2780 cells were cultured in RPMI1640 containing 10% fetal bovine serum. Cells were treated with different doses of GA and cell viability and proliferation were detected by dye exclusion and 3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT) assays. Apoptosis induction and expression of Fas and Fas ligand ( FasL) were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: We observed that GA decreases cell viability and suppressed cells proliferation in a dose-dependent manner as detected by dye-exclusion and XTT assayes. In addition, our flow cytometry data show that GA not only induces apoptosis in A2780 cells but also upregulates both Fas and FasL on these cells in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: we demonstrate that GA causes cell death in A2780 cells by inducing apoptosis.