Anticancer effect of patuletin on neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y

Neuroblastoma is an extracranial solid tumor, usually found in children, and one of the most common pediatric cancers. It originates from the neural crest cells of the sympathetic nervous  system. While multimodal therapies: including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and immunotherapy, improve prognosis, treatment outcomes are complicated by chemoresistance,  systemic toxicity, underscoring the need for novel patient-focused therapeutic agents. Patuletin is a rare O-methylated flavonol with known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and more recently, it has been cited for potential anticancer activity. This study focuses on investigating the anticancer effects of patuletin on SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells using various cellular assays.

Cell viability was assessed via Trypan blue exclusion method and the Cell Counting Kit-8  (CCK-8) assay, using  patuletin treatment doses of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100µM. Giemsa staining was used to observe morphological changes. DNA fragmentation was assessed after drug treatment, which is a hallmark of apoptosis. Flow cytometry using Annexin V-FITC/PI staining  was used to confirm apoptosis. TMRM dye was used to assess mitochondrial membrane potential damage.

Our results demonstrate that patuletin effectively inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis  in SH-SY5Y cells in a dose and time-dependent fashion. Giemsa staining confirmed membrane  damage with apoptotic bodies and cell shrinkage. A dose-dependent increase in % DNA fragmentation of cells treated with the patuletin suggests significant apoptotic activity. Flow cytometry using Annexin V-FITC/PI staining further validated the apoptotic nature of cell death, with a significant increase in early and late apoptotic populations compared to controls. Loss of mitochondrial potential damage was also not significantly seen in the presence of patuletin at 48 hr.

Our findings demonstrate that patuletin exerts potent antiproliferative effects through apoptosis  induction, supported by experimental approaches. The exact molecular targets of patuletin  remain to be elucidated; its strong cytotoxic effect against neuroblastoma cells highlights it as  a plant-derived therapeutic candidate.

Dr Mahwish fatima is a Phd Scholar and working as research coordinator in Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Karachi. She has done Pharm D in 2011 and MPhil in Pharmacology in 2023 from University of Karachi.. She is facilitating and conducting labs for UGME, MPhil and PhD. She is also a clinical research certified professional. She is a newly scientist and has a keen interest in cancer research and conducting several research projects.