The aim of this study was to determine the anti-tumour activity of tanshinone IIA in SKOV3 cells. Results suggested that tanshinone IIA could significantly inhibit (IC50 value = 19.6 μM) the proliferation and induce apoptosis of SKOV3 cells as demonstrated by flow cytometry analysis. In addition, tanshinone IIA treatment induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in SKOV3 cells. The results of Western blotting indicated that tanshinone IIA can suppress the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, increase (0.28 vs. 0.62) the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax (0.83 vs. 0.24) in SKOV3 cells. It can be concluded that the tanshinone IIA may be a possible therapeutic candidate having cytotoxic and anti-tumour potential.
Keywords: SKOV3; Tanshinone IIA; apoptosis; cell.