To investigate the effects of anemoside B4 on proliferation, apoptosis and migration of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells through a variety of biological methods, and further to explore its mechanism.

Ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells were cultured in vitro. CCK-8 method was used to detect the proliferation of SKOV3 cells treated with different concentrations of anemoside B4, and IC50 value was calculated. Flow cytometry was employed to detect the apoptosis of cells treated with IC50 concentration of anemoside B4 for different time length; Transwell method was used to detect the migration and invasion of cells treated with IC50 concentration of anemoside B4 for different time length. Western blot was used to detect changes in the expression of related proteins.

Anemoside B4 can effectively inhibit the proliferation of SKOV3 cells, showing a concentration-dependent IC50 value of 6.08±0.56 μM, and the inhibitory effect is stronger than the positive control drug cisplatin, with statistically significant difference (P<0.05) . Flow cytometry showed that anemoside B4 could induce SKOV3 cells apoptosis, reduce Bcl-xl expression, and up-regulate the expression of Bax, cleaved-caspase-3 and PARP. Compared with the group of 0 h, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . Crocetin could down-regulate the expression of N-cadherin and up-regulate the expression of E-cadherin, thereby inhibiting the migration of SKOV3 cells. Anemoside B4 could inhibit the expression of JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway proteins.

Anemoside B4 can effectively inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells, and induce SKOV3 cell apoptosis by regulating the JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway to inhibit their migration. Crocetin has great potential in the research and development of ovarian cancer therapy.

Anemoside B4; SKOV3 cells; Ovarian cancer; Apoptosis; Cell migration; JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway