Abstract:Objective:To study the ability of bufalin to induce apoptosis and cycle arrest of human colon cancer HT- 29 cell, and to explore its molecular mechanism. Methods: Human colon cancer HT- 29 cells was divided into control group (wild- type cells) and bufalin treatment group(0.25, 0.5, 1 μmol/L) and cisplatin(DDP) group(1 μg/mL). The apoptosis and cycle arrest of human colon cancer HT- 29 cell induced by bufalin were detected by flow cytometry(FCM). Western blotting was used to detect the changes of protein expression of phosphatidylinositol- 3 kinase(PI3K), phosphorylated phosphatidylinositol- 3 kinase(p- PI3K), protein kinase B(Akt) and phosphorylated protein kinase B(p- Akt) in HT- 29 cells treated with bufalin for 24 hours. The effect of bufalin on the mRNA expression of PI3K and Akt in HT-29 cells was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR). Results:The results of FCM showed that compared with the control group,bufalin(0.25,0.5,1 μmol/L) group could induce apoptosis of colon cancer HT-29 cell in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). Compared with the control group,bufalin(0.25,0.5,1 μmol/L) group could induce the cycle arrest of colon cancer cell line HT-29 in G2/M phase,and the greater the concentration of bufalin,the more significant the cycle arrest effect(P< 0.05). Western blot results showed that compared with the control group,bufalin could down regulate the expression levels of PI3K,p-PI3K,Akt and p-Akt in a dose-dependent manner(P<0.05). RT-qPCR results showed that compared with the control group, bufalin could significantly down regulate the expression of PI3K and Akt mRNA. Conclusion: Bufalin can induce apoptosis and cycle arrest of colon cancer HT-29 cell,and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of PI3K/Akt signal pathway.