Evaluation of the effects of paederus beetle extract and gamma irradiation on HeLa cells

OBJECTIVE(S): Cervical cancer is a malignancy that is the second most common cause of death from cancer in women throughout the world. Paederus beetle (Paederus fuscipes) extract (PBE), contains bioactive compounds such as pederine which has cytotoxic properties and blocks DNA and protein synthesis at very low concentrations. In this investigation we tried to determine the effects co-treatment with PBE and gamma irradiation on HeLa cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The viability of the cells was measured by two methods: MTT and Colony assay. RESULTS: We found that supplementing gamma irradiation therapy with PBE does not increase cell death and it might even interfere with its cytotoxicty at the concentrations below 0.1 ng/ml and the viability for irradiation vs irradiation + PBE was 37%: 60%. CONCLUSION: This finding might be due to radioprotective effects of the very low doses of PBE against gamma radiation.