Ellagic acid (EA) is a polyphenol found in grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, etc. exhibits anti-cancer properties. The current study was conducted to understand the radiosensitizing role of EA on HeLa cells. Monotherapy of EA and radiation was initially studied on HeLa cells. The addition of EA before the radiation treatment subsequently made DNA more susceptible to damage thereby developing DNA beaks, which are known to be lethal for cell survival. This was evaluated by performing comet and γ-foci formation assay. Other assays which included cell-cycle distribution, clonogenic cell survival assay, mitochondrial membrane drop, and apoptosis were performed to evaluate the effect of EA with radiation. Our results demonstrate that, when cells were exposed to the combinatorial treatment of EA (10µM) and 2Gy of γ-radiation there was augmented cell death, lesser cell-proliferation, reduction in the colony-forming ability, increased DNA tail length, more number of γ-foci persisting even after 24h, enhanced apoptosis, augmented drop in the mitochondrial membrane potential and a G1 cell-cycle arrest. These results suggest that EA exhibits not only anti-cancer properties in terms of cell-death but also exhibits a radiosensitizing effect when given in combination with γ-radiation. Thus, it can be concluded that EA not only exhibits anticancer effects but also has potential in radiosensitizing HeLa cells.
Role of DNA Damage and MMP Loss in Radiosensitization-Induced Apoptosis by Ellagic Acid in HeLa Cells
