Background & objectives: Epithelial ovarian carcinoma seems to be one of the most lethal cancer types among all gynecological malignancies. The conventional course of therapy includes chemotherapy. Actually most cancers respond to chemotherapy but in the long run drug resistance and side effects cause treatment failure. In addition, milk thistle (silibinin), a plant that has been used from ancient time because of its good effects on different organs, determined to have powerful antioxidant activity.  The aim of this study was to examine the effect of silibinin on SKOV-3 cancer cell line after 48 hours of treatment and P21 gene expression which involves in cell cycle progression.

Methods: The human epithelial ovarian cancer cell line SKOV-3 was cultured as monolayer in 25 cm² flask in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Then the numbers of live cells were calculated using hemocytometer method and the cells were seeded in 96-well flat-bottomed culture plates and treated with different concentration of Silibinin. MTT assay was carried out to determine cell viability. To study P21 gene expression, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were carried out and real-time PCR was done.

Results: Cell growth was inhibited considerably by Silibinin treated groups compared with control after 48 hours. P21 gene expression was increased as well.

Conclusions: According to the results, Silibinin can be used as an effective drug in cancer treatment. More studies on animal models are also suggested.

Background & objectives: Among gynecologic malignancies, endometrial cancer is the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death all over the world. Paclitaxel is one of the chemotherapy regimens that is used against this cancer. Treatment of tumor with Paclitaxel induces apoptosis, but it is also associated with serious side effects. Thus, it is imperative to search for more effective and safer chemotherapeutic regimens. Silibinin is a milk thistle plant extract that its antioxidant effects against some cancers have been studied. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of Paclitaxel and Silibinin combination on endometrial cancer cell line (Hela).

Methods: Hela cell line was cultured in 25cm² flask in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Then the numbers of live cells were calculated with trypan blue staining method and then the cells were seeded in to 96-well flat-bottomed culture plates and treated with Silibilin, Paclitaxel and Paclitaxel plus Silibilin together with the control without treatment. MTT assay was used to evaluate cytotoxicity of different treatments.

Results: After 48 hours of treatment, Paclitaxel and Silibilin combination inhibited cell growth significantly compared with the other groups (p<0.05).

Conclusions: It is indicated that combination of Paclitaxel and Silibilin can affect the growth arrest of Hela cancer cell line more  effective than other treatments and is needed to be examined in vitro.