Resveratrol induces apoptosis in human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells via Sirt3-SOD2-ROS pathway

AIM: To investigate whetier resveratrol induces apoptosis of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells through Sirt3-SOD2-ROS pathway. METHODS: SKOV3 cells were cultured in vitro and treated with resveratrol at 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/L for 24 h. The inhibitory effect of resveratrol on the viability of SKOV3 cells was measured by MTT assay. SKOV3 cells were randomly divided into blank control group, 10 mg/L resveratrol group, 20 mg/L resveratrol group and 40 mg/L resveratrol group. After 24 h of treatment, Hoechst 33342 staining and confocal microscopy were used to observe the nuclear changes. The protein levels of silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 3 (Sirt3), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Treatment with resveratrol at 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/L for 24 h significantly reduced the viability of SKOV3 cells. The observation by confocal microscopy showed that the nucleus of SKOV3 cells was markedly condensed and heavily stained with the increase in the concentration of resveratrol. Compared with blank control group, the red fluorescence intensity of ROS in different concentrations of resveratrol groups was significantly reduced. The results of Western blot showed that the protein levels of Sirt3, SOD2, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 in resveratrol groups were significantly higher than those in control group, while the protein expression of Bcl-2 was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Resveratrol induces apoptosis of SKOV3 cells by regulating Sirt3-SOD2-ROS pathway.