Apoptosis in Human Papillomavirus-Induced Cervical Cancer Cells By Higher Doses of Ascorbic Acid

Abstract

Objective: To assess the anti-cancer role of ascorbic acid using high doses against the cervical cancer cell line and to establish a cell culture facility in the laboratory.

Study Design: In Vitro Study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Aug 2014 to Jul 2015.

Methodology: HeLa cells were grown in Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium, and upon reaching confluency, cells were challenged with different doses of ascorbic acid. The MTT assay was employed to study the cytotoxic effects of increased doses of ascorbic acid on HeLa cells.

Results: An increasing dose of ascorbic acid was found to be cytotoxic toward HeLa cells, and its EC50 was found to be between 5-6µM. A high dose of ascorbic acid is selectively cytotoxic to HeLa cell lines of cervical cancer, which may imply the treatment of cervical cancer patients. NF- kB inducing kinase is a salient protein in TNFα-induced NF-kB activation. Ascorbate has been reported to inhibit that activation which has anti-apoptotic roles in tumour progression. CB-Dock was employed to propose the binding sites for NIK-Ascorbate interaction, which might be a therapeutic target for cancer cells.

Conclusion: The study concludes that high dose ascorbic acid is cytotoxic to cervical cancer cells HeLa and may have important implications in treating cervical cancer patients. Therapeutic intervention of this vitamin may contribute to suppressing cancer development.