Effect of Thymoquinone on Ovarian Carcinoma Cell Viability (OVCAR-3)

Abstract

Aim: Ovarian cancer is the third most common gynecological malignancy worldwide. However, it has the highest mortality rate among cancers due to its asymptomatic course, late diagnosis and recurrence. Doxorubicin (Dox) is one of the most commonly prescribed chemotherapeutics in the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer. The serious side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and the development of drug resistance restrict the use of these drugs. The use of natural products with anticancer activity may help partially overcome these problems. In this study, the effects of thymoquinone (TQ) and Dox, a powerful chemotherapy agent, on cell growth inhibition and cell viability on OVCAR-3 and human skin keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) were determined by the MTT method.
 Method: Ovarian adenocarcinoma cell lines OVCAR-3 (CCL-2™) and HaCat (RRID: CVCL_0038) were used in the study. To determine the IC50 (inhibitory concentration) doses of Dox and TQ, HeLa and HaCaT cell lines were cultivated with the help of an automatic multipipet. Then, MTT test was applied to analyze cell survival (viability).
 Results: OVCAR-3 cell growth was approximately 2.12 nM at the 48th hour in cells treated with Dox, while the IC50 value of TQ at the 48th hour was found to be 62.9 µM.
 Conclusion: These results show that TQ potentiates the effect of Dox and the Dox/TQ combination may be a promising alternative to other chemotherapeutic combinations in the treatment of ovarian cancer with lower side effects.
 Keywords: Thymoquinone, Cancer, Ovarian adenocarcinoma, MTT