Synergistic anti-cancer effect of baicalein and silymarin on human hepatoma HepG2 Cells

This study investigated the effect of baicalein, silymarin, and their combination, on two human liver-derived cell lines, HepG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma) and Chang liver (non-tumor liver cells). It was found that 6.75 μg/ml baicalein or 100 μg/ml silymarin alone significantly inhibited the growth of HepG2. When baicalein was used in combination with silymarin on HepG2, an additive effect at 24 h and a synergistic effect at 48 h were observed. The viability at 48 h was 85.62% from 6.75 μg/ml baicalein treatment; but the viability reduced to 49.67%, 38.56%, and 19.61% when 25, 50, and 100 μg/ml silymarin respectively, was added to the treatment. By contrast, each treatment had little or no effect on Chang liver. Compared to treatment of baicalein or silymarin alone on HepG2, combination of both drugs synergistically increased the percentages of cells in G0/G1 phase and decreased those in S-phase, which were associated with up-regulation of Rb, p53, p21Cip1 and p27Kip1 and down-regulation of cyclin D1, cyclin E, CDK4 and phospho-Rb. The results indicate that the combination of baicalein and silymarin eradicates tumor cells efficiently, has minimal deleterious effects to the surrounding normal cells, and offers mechanistic insight for further exploitation of HCC treatment.