title: Apoptotic activities of thymoquinone, an active ingredient of black seed (Nigella sativa), in cervical cancer cell lines.
abstract: Thymoquinone (TQ) is the main constituent of black seed (Nigella sativa, spp) essential oil which shows promising in vitro and in vivo anti-neoplastic activities in different tumor cell lines. However, to date there are only a few reports regarding the apoptotic effects of TQ on cervical cancer cells. Here, we report that TQ stimulated distinct apoptotic pathways in two human cervical cell lines, Siha and C33A. TQ markedly induced apoptosis as demonstrated by cell cycle analysis in both cell lines. Moreover, quantitative PCR revealed that TQ induced apoptosis in Siha cells through p53-dependent pathway as shown by elevated level of p53-mediated apoptosis target genes, whereas apoptosis in C33A cells was mainly associated with the activation of caspase-3. These results support previous findings on TQ as a potential therapeutic agent for human cervical cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Medical Science, Kulliyyah of Dentistry, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan 25710, Pahang, Malaysia Human Molecular Cellular Biology Research Unit, Integrated Centre of Research and Animal Care and Use (HMCB-ICRACU), International Islamic University, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Solachuddin J A
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ichwan
authors.forename: Imad M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Al-Ani
authors.forename: Hakim G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Bilal
authors.forename: Wastuti H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Suriyah
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taher
authors.forename: Masa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D016227:Benzoquinones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D031881:Nigella sativa / Q000737:chemistry*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D016227:Benzoquinones; C495901:TP53 protein, human; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; C003466:thymoquinone