OBJECTIVETo evaluate the anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing effect of podophyllotoxin solid lipid nanoparticles (PDP-SLN) in human cervical carcinoma cells in vitro.

METHODSHela cells were treated with PDP and PDP-SLN at different concentrations (0.0005-5 micromol/L), and the proliferation of the cells was assessed using MTT assay and the apoptotic index was determined by flow cytometry.

RESULTSBoth PDP and PDP-SLN showed obvious inhibitory effect on the cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. At the same concentration, PDP-SLN produced stronger inhibitory effect on the cells than PDP, with IC50 24, 48, and 72 h after the cell exposure to PDP-SLN and PDP of 4.10, 0.65, 0.20 micromol/L and 9.2, 4.0, 1.3 micromol/L, respectively. Both PDP and PDP-SLN significantly induced the apoptosis of the Hela cell, and the apoptosis rates of the cells incubated in the presence of 0.5 micromol/L PDP-SLN reached 90.8% at 24 h and 94.2% at 72 h, significantly higher than the rate of cells incubated with PDP (64.1% at 24 h and 68.4% at 72 h, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONPDP-SLN can effectively suppress the proliferation and induce apoptosis of Hela cells in vitro.