Abstract
The natural products and conventional chemotherapeutic drugs combination can increase the efficacy of anticancer treatment through their potential synergistic effects and reduce its toxicity. The current study investigates the effect of methanolic extract from aerial parts of Juniperus excelsa on cell death activities induced by vincristine in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells.Cytotoxic activity of J. excelsa extract and vincristine in Nalm-6 and Reh cells was determined using MTT assay and synergism was evaluated using the CompuSyn software. Apoptosis was assessed by caspase 3 activity assay and flow cytometry. The expression levels of some apoptosis-related genes, Caspase 3, BAX and BCL-2 were determined by Real-time PCR. Statistical analysis was assessed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's tests.The combined treatment of VCR and J. excelsa extract showed a synergistic cytotoxic effect on both Nalm-6 and Reh cells at low doses of vincristine (CI<1).J. excelsa extract also significantly increased VCR-induced apoptosis (P<0.001). Expression of CASP3 and BAX genes were upregulated, while BCL-2 gene was downregulated in both cells (P<0.05).Our study suggested the combined use of lower doses of VCR and J. excelsa extract promote its effects by apoptosis induction and this combination could potentially decrease the side effects of the drug.
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