Antiproliferative effect of coumarin by modulating oxidant/antioxidant status and inducing apoptosis in Hep2 cells

Considering the importance of plant derived compounds in prevention of cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species which has been implicated to several diseases, this present study was undertaken to evaluate the anticancer effects of coumarin by MTT assay, lipid peroxidation markers and antioxidants status against Hep2 cancer cells. A Hep2 cells was treated with different concentrations of coumarin (2.5–1000 μg/ml) for 24 h and its cytotoxicity effect were measured by MTT assay. Apoptosis was investigated in terms of acridine orange/ethidium bromide dual staining method and DNA fragmentation. Our present investigation showed that coumarin decreased cell viability with an IC50 value of 62.5 μg/ml. The IC50 was determined by dose response curve by plotting the graph of concentration versus % cell viability. Hep2 cancer cells showed decreased levels of lipid peroxidation with increased activities of enzymatic antioxidants. Among the various doses of coumarin (125, 250 and 500 μg/ml), 500 μg/ml dose significantly decreased lipid peroxidation and increased antioxidant activities. Moreover, coumarin inhibited Hep2 cell growth and showed typical characteristics of apoptosis including the morphological changes and DNA fragmentation. On the basis of these findings, coumarin may be considered as potential therapeutic intervention of human Hep2 cancer cells.