Effects and mechanism of lutein on apoptosis of esophageal carcinoma EC9706 cells

Objective: To study the effects of lutein on apoptosis and its mechanism.Method: The cells of human esophageal carcinoma EC9706 were grown in RPMI medium containing 10% bovine serum and were treated with lutein at 100 μg·mL~(-1) concentration.Flow cytometry was employed to investigate the effects of lutein on cell apoptosis of EC9706 cells. Histochemistry was performed to determine apoptosis-related protein expresion. Result: Flow cytometry analyses revealed that lutein increased EC9706 cell apoptosis ratio when treated with lutein 100 μg·mL~(-1) at 96 h.Lutein decreased the expression of Bcl-2 protein and increased the expression of Bax protein in EC9706 cells.Conclusion: Lutein could inhibit mitosis and stimulate apoptosis of EC9706 cells.The apoptotic effect may result from the down-regulation of expression of Bcl-2 and up-regulation expression of Bax.