Published online 2015 May 31. Research Article Effect of Quercetin on RAC1 Gene Expression as a Marker of Metastasis in Cervical Cancer Cells

Background: Cancer metastasis is the most important cause of cancer death and different treatment strategies have targeted on preventing the occurrence of metastasis. Quercetin is a flavonoid and widely used as an antioxidant and recent studies have discovered its anticancer and antiproliferative capabilities. Rac1 is protein known to involve in tumor invasion and metastases. Objectives: In this study, we investigated the effect of quercetin on expression of Rac1 protein. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, HeLa cells were treated with quercetin at 2 concentrations (20 and 40 μM) for 24 hours and then cell lysate was assessed by Western blotting analysis to investigate the impact of quercetin on expression of Rac1 protein. Results: Quercetin significantly decreased Rac1 expression of HeLa cells assessed by western blotting, in dose-dependent manners (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study showed that quercetin decreased Rac1 expression as a marker of metastasis in cervical cancer cells. Therefore, the quercetin may provide an effective new strategy to reduce of tumor metastasis