Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Allicin-induced modulation of angiogenesis in lung cancer cells (A549)

Layla Alhasan , Zuhair Radhi Addai

Biology Department, Education College for Pure Sciences, Thi-Qar University, Thi-Qar, Nasiriya 60041, Iraq;

For correspondence:- Layla Alhasan Email: layla@eps.edu.iq

Accepted: 16 October 2018 Published: 30 November 2018

Citation: Alhasan L, Addai ZR. Allicin-induced modulation of angiogenesis in lung cancer cells (A549). Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(11):2129-2134 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i11.3

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of allicin as a candidate for lung cancer therapy.

Methods: Allicin solution at different concentrations was tested on A549 lung cancer cell line. Viability and proliferation of A549 cells were determined. The cytotoxic effects of allicin solution on A549 lung cancer cells were quantitatively determined using Alamar blue assay. Cell proliferation and cell cycle were measured by DAPI-flow cytometry analysis in order to investigate the possible cell signalling pathway targeted by allicin. The level of expression of VEGF-A protein was determined with confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Results: Allicin inhibited lung cancer proliferation and down-regulated the protein expression of VEGF, but had no significant cytotoxic effects on A549 cells. Flow cytometric results showed that allicin induced cell cycle arrest of A549 cells at the G1 phase.

Conclusion: These results indicate that allicin exerts anti-proliferative effects on A549 lung cancer cells. Thus allicin, an active component of garlic, might be a promising therapy against lung cancer metastasis.

Keywords: A549 cells, Allicin, qPCR Taqman assay, VEGF-A protein expression, Garlic, Lung cancer