Toxicity Evaluation of Geniposide on MCF-7 Cancer Cells

As one of the adjuvant treatments for cancer treatment, traditional Chinese medicine treatment has a wide range of cancer treatments, such as preventing metastasis and relapse, improving the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, reducing the side effects of chemotherapy, improving body function, extending life and improving the life quality. Geniposide (GEN) is a bioactive substance extracted from the fruit of gardenia. In recent years, it has attracted attention due to its anti-tumor effect. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether GEN could inhibit the proliferation of human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and promote its apoptosis. The half-inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of GEN were firstly determined as 16.06, 14.85 and 13.14 mg/mL by the CCK-8 experiment after cells treated for 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h, respectively. The inhibitory effect of GEN on MCF-7 cells was in concentration- and time-dependent manners from the results of CCK-8 experiment and Live/Dead staining. AO/EB staining result has shown that GEN has induced MCF-7 cell apoptosis.