Karthikeyan Subburayan

Ferulic Acid Modulates Radiation Effects in Cancer Cells in Vitro: Sensitizing Effect of Natural Products on Human Cancer Cells Karthikeyan Subburayan

Cervical cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in women with a death total of 230,000 worldwide each year, nearly 80% in developing countries. Radiotherapy (RT) is a major treatment modality for advanced cervical cancer but the local relapse rate is 30? 44% in patients treated with RT alone and 19?25% in patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. We have investigated the radiosensitizing effect of ferulic acid (FA), a naturally occurring phenolic phytochemical, against gamma-radiation induced cell death in human cervical (HeLa, ME-180 and SiHa) cancer cells. Percentage of growth inhibition, intracellular ROS levels, mitochondria membrane potential, oxidative DNA damage and apoptotic morphology changes were measured. On the whole, the findings will hopefully provide this radiosensitizing effect of ferulic acid and/or gamma radiation associated to reduces the patient?s expenses and risks of toxicity, as well as over the currently available radiotherapy treatments for cervical cancer, which mainly depends on the usage of high doses of radiation in clinical oncology.