Effects of astragalus on cell proliferation and apoptosis in laryngeal carcinoma cell line

Objective To investigate the mechanism underlying the anticancer activity of astragalus on human laryngeal cancer.Methods Hep-2 cells were treated with different concentrations of astragalus for 24 h.MTT assay was used to evaluate cell proliferation.Flow cytometry with PI staining and fluorescent microscopy with hoechst 33258 staining were used to estimate cell cycle distribution and cell apoptosis.Results Astragalus inhibited cellular proliferation in a dose dependent manner(P0.05).Flow cytometry analysis showed that treatment with astragalus resulted in accumulation of cells at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle and cell apoptosis in a dose dependent manner(P0.05).Marked apoptotic changes were observed by 33258 staining.Conclusion Astragalus inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of Hep-2 cells by regulating cell cycle,forming G2/M phase inhibition.