• Qian Zhang, Juan Bao, and Jiehua Yang.
• Second Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Qujing Second People's Hospital, Qujing, China.
• Arch Med Sci. 2019 Jul 1; 15 (4): 1001-1009.

IntroductionLiver cancer is one of the most common malignancies across the globe and one of the major causes of cancer-related mortality. With limited available treatment options, there is an urgent need to look for new available options. Genistein is an important plant flavonoid and has been shown to possess tremendous pharmacological potential. The objective of the present study was therefore to evaluate the anticancer effect of the genistein.Material And MethodsThe antiproliferative activity and IC50 of genistein were determined by MTT assay. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cycle distribution were investigated by flow cytometry. Apoptosis was detected by DAPI and annexin V/IP staining. Cell migration was investigated by wound healing assay. Protein expression was estimated by western blotting.ResultsMTT assay revealed that genistein reduced the cell viability of HepG2 cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Genistein also reduced the colony forming potential of the HepG2 cell concentration dependently. The IC50 of genistein was found to be 25 μM. Genistein caused G2/M cell cycle arrest and G2/M cells increased from 4.2% in the control to 56.4% at 100 μM concentration. Genistein prompted generation of significant (p < 0.01) amounts of ROS, ultimately favouring cell death. Genistein also triggered apoptosis which was associated with upregulation of cytosolic cytochrome c, Bax, cleaved caspase 3 and 9 expression and downregulation of Bcl-2 expression in HepG2 cells.ConclusionsWe propose that genistein exhibits significant anticancer activity against liver cancer and therefore may prove beneficial in the management of liver cancer.

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