Hydroxyurea Induces p53 Accumulation and Apoptosis in Human Cervical Carcinoma Cells

Authors: HAKAN AKÇA, OSMAN NİDAİ ÖZEŞ

Abstract: Cervical carcinoma is one type of cancer with a high mortality rate in women. In this research, we investigated the cytotoxic, antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects of hydroxyurea on a human cervical carcinoma cell line, HeLa. We found that hydroxyurea has cytotoxic and antiproliferative effects on HeLa cells in a dose-dependent manner. We also found that hydroxyurea can increase cellular levels of p53 and p21, and induce DNA fragmentation in a dose-dependent manner. We concluded that the observed antiproliferative, cytotoxic and apoptosis inducing activities of hydroxyurea might be mediated by the induction of p53 and its transcriptional target, p21.

Keywords: Hydroxyurea, p53, p21, Cervical Carcinoma, DNA fragmentation, Apoptosis

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