Mango mistletoe Dendrophthoe pentandra leaf extract acts synergistically with 5-Fluorouracil to induce apoptosis and increase p21 expression in human cervical adenocarcinoma HeLa cells by reducing survivin expression

Abstract

Mango mistletoe (Dendrophthoe pentandra L. Miq) (MMDP) leaf extract which contained quercetin inhibits cancer cells. MMDP increasing effectively of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) as a chemotherapy agent. This study aimed to investigate the synergistic effects of MMDP combined with 5-FU to determine the percentage of apoptosis, p21, and survivin in HeLa cells. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that it increases apoptosis HeLa cell through increasing p21 and also decreased survivin percentage. The combination of 5-FU 5 μg/ml and MMDP 50 μg/ml significantly increased the percentage of p21 and apoptosis (P < 0.001; P < 0.001) and decreased survivin (P < 0.05) compared with 5-FU only group. This study indicates that the combined 5-FU and MMDP has a synergistic effect to enhance apoptosis and p21 expressions by decreasing of survivin in HeLa cells.