Study on the Effect of Quinoa Saponins on Human Colon Cancer HT‐29 Cells

ABSTRACT Quinoa saponins can inhibit the survival of specific cancer cells. However, there is still a lack of systematic research on the effects of quinoa saponins on colon cancer cells. This experiment confirmed that quinoa saponins prevented human colon cancer HT‐29 cells from growing in vitro. The MTT experiment revealed that quinoa saponins significantly decreased the proliferative vitality of HT‐29 cells. In comparison to the control group, the proportion of cell number in the G0/G1 phase increased by 22.97% and the rate of apoptosis increased by 22.55% after treating cells with quinoa saponins (40 μg/mL). By regulating the expression of Cyclin D1 and p21, it caused the cell cycle to be blocked in the G0/G1 phase. It also promoted the expression of Caspase3 and Bax while suppressing the expression of Bcl‐2, which led to the apoptosis of HT‐29 cells. In addition, quinoa saponins caused cells to undergo autophagy by upregulating the expression of LC‐3II and Beclin1, while the addition of autophagy inhibitors significantly reduced the inhibitory effect on cell proliferation. Finally, the migration of HT‐29 cells was also inhibited by quinoa saponins. After treating cells with quinoa saponins (40 μg/mL), compared with that in the control group, the wound healing rate of cells decreased by 38.21% and the migration ability decreased by 69.48%. The potential mechanism could be connected to increasing E‐cadherin expression while decreasing N‐cadherin expression. Importantly, all of these changes induced by quinoa saponins were dose dependent. Overall, these findings give a scientific basis for the anticancer mechanism of quinoa saponins.