Experimental study on the effect of hedysarum polybotys saccharides and selenizated hedysarum polybotys saccharides on oral squamous cancer cells in vitro

Objective To study the effects of hedysarum polybotys saccharides (HPS) and selenizated hedysarum polybotys saccharides (SE-HPS) on the oral squamous cancer cell line SCC25. Methods Different concentrations (0, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 μg/ml) of HPS and SE-HPS were added to SCC25 cells in the logarithmic growth stage. Cell proliferation was detected by the CCK-8 method, apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, and apoptosis-related indexes were observed by RT-qPCR and Western blotting. Results The concentrations of HPS and SE-HPS inhibited the proliferation of SCC25 cells. The inhibitory effect of 50 μg/mL HPS and SE-HPS on the proliferation of SCC25 cells was the strongest and was time-dependent. The inhibition effect significantly increased within 48 h, and the effect was achieved after 48 h. At the plateau stage, SE-HPS inhibited the proliferation of SCC25 cells more strongly than HPS (P < 0.05). The results of flow cytometry showed that 50 μg/mL HPS and SE-HPS acted on SCC25 cells for 48 h, and the apoptotic rates were 25.8% and 30.8% respectively. Compared with the control group (0 μg/mL HPS and SE-HPS), the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). RT-qPCR and Western blotting showed that 50 μg/mL HPS and SE-HPS acted on SCC25 cells for 48 h, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of the apoptosis gene Fas/FasL were upregulated. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion Both HPS and SE-HPS can inhibit the proliferation of SCC25 oral cancer cells, but SE-HPS is superior to HPS and can induce apoptosis through the Fas/Fasl pathway.