Investigation of in vitro Cytotoxic Activity of Arbutin on Human Ovarian Cancer Cell Line

Arbutin is one of the chemical compounds commonly found in cosmetics. Arbutin's potential effects on ovarian cancer were investigated in this study using the human serous cystadenoma cancer cell line (SKOV3). Cytotoxicity levels and IC50 values of arbutin were determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) method. Depending on the increase in the applied doses, arbutin was found to have toxic activity on cancer cells. As a result of the immunocytochemical analysis performed on the cells applied with the IC50 value, it was found that arbutin at the IC50 dose increased Caspase 3 immunoreactivity in SKOV3 cells compared to the control group. Considering that arbutin increased apoptotic Caspase 3 activation in SKOV3 cells at the IC50 dose, elucidation of the molecular mechanisms behind these effects of arbutin may contribute to the development of a new perspective in treatment.