Anticancer Activity of Phloretin Against Human Gastric Cancer Cell Lines Involves Apoptosis, Cell Cycle Arrest, and Inhibition of Cell Invasion and JNK Signalling Pathway

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is one of most commonly diagnosed cancers and causes significant mortality worldwide. In this study, the antiproliferative and anticancer effects of Phloretin were evaluated against gastric cancer cell lines. MATERIAL/METHODS: MTT assay was used to assess the proliferation rate of gastric cancer cells. DAPI and annexin V/PI were used for detection of apoptotic cell death. Cell invasion was investigated by Transwell assays and the expression of the proteins was estimated by immunoblotting. RESULTS: The results revealed that Phloretin exerts anticancer effects on all the gastric cancer cell lines used in this study. However, the anticancer effects were more significant (p<0.05) on the AGS cell line. Further, the effect of Phloretin on the viability of normal GES-1 cells was minimal. Apoptosis assays showed that Phloretin triggers apoptotic cell death in AGS gastric cancer cells. Phloretin could also cause the arrest of the AGS gastric cancer cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle and suppress their ability to migrate. Western blotting analysis revealed that Phloretin significantly decreased the expression of p-JNK and p-38. However, comparatively lower effects were observed on the expression of JNK and P38. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that Phloretin is an important molecule for the treatment of gastric cancer.