Abstract: Objective: To investigate the promotive effect of 4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzotriazole (TBB) on the apoptosis of the human cervical cancer HeLa cells,and to clarify its effect mechanism in related signaling pathways. Methods: The human cervical cancer HeLa cells at logarithmic growth phase were divided into control group(without TBB) and experiment group(with TBB).MTT assay was used to detect the survival rate of the HeLa cells; the morphology of HeLa cells was observed under inverted microscope; Annexin Ⅴ-FITC/PI double staining and flow cytometry(FCM) were used to determine the apoptotic rates of the HeLa cells; the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins p-Akt,Akt,Bcl-2,Bax,cleaved-caspase-3,and Pro-caspase-3 were detected by Western blotting method. Results: The MTT results showed that the survival rates of the HeLa cells in experiment group were significantly decreased(P<0.01) in a dose-dependent manner compared with control group.The apoptotic morphology of the HeLa cells in experiment group were found as cell shrinkage and karyopyknosis under inverted microscope. The Annexin Ⅴ-FITC/PI double staining and FCM results showed that the apoptotic rates of the HeLa cells in experiment group (3,6,12 and 24 h) were higher than that in control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The Western blotting results showed that compared with control group,the expression levels of the anti-apoptotic proteins p-Akt and Bcl-2 in HeLa cells in experiment group were decreased obviously,whereas the expression levels of the pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and cleaved-caspase-3 were increased and the expression levels of Pro-caspase-3 were decreased. Conclusion: TBB may promote the apoptosis of human cervical cancer HeLa cells by inhibiting the Akt signaling pathway.

Key words: Akt signaling pathway, 4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzotriazole, cervical neoplasm HeLa cells, apoptosis