Baicalein induces the apoptosis of U251 glioblastoma cell lines via the NF-kB-p65-mediated mechanism

ABSTRACTGlioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive cerebral gliomas. Moreover, the overall prognosis of GBM is still little. Baicalein (BA) is a flavonoid derived from the Scutellaria baicalensis root, and has historically been used in anticancer therapies. However, its apoptosis role and related mechanisms in GBM has not yet been researched clearly. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of BA on human GBM U251 cell line. The effects of BA on proliferation of U251 cells were measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Cellular apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide staining. The expression of apoptosis-related protein Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved-caspase3 was detected by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot. The expression of nuclear p65 protein, the active subunit of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), was determined by immunofluorescence and western blot. Our results showed that the viability of U251 cells significantly decreased in a time- and dose-dependent ma...