Simvastatin induces apoptosis in hunman colon cancer HT29 cells in vitro

Objective: Evaluate the effect of simvastatin on the apoptosis in HT29 cells and its possible mechanisms of anticancer effects.Methods: In vitro,human colon cancer HT29 cells were treated by simvastatin in a series of concertrations.The absorbance value was detected by means of MTT assay and growth inhibition rate was calculate.Cell apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry.The expression of Bcl-2 and bax were analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blotting.Results: Simvastatin could inhibit the growth of the human colon cancer HT29 cells and the inhibitory effect was dose-and-time dependent(P0.01).Comparing with control group,the HT29 cell apoptosis was induced by simvastatin at 48 hours,the cell apoptosis rate was gradually increased by simvastatin(P0.05).The expression of Bcl-2 was downregulated and bax was upregulated by simvastain at 48 hours.Conclusions: Simvastatin could inhibit the growth of hunman colon cancer HT29 cells in a dose-and-time dependent manner,its possible mechanisms could be inducing apoptosis through downregulating Bcl-2 expression and upregulating bax expression.