Morphological Effects Induced by Cucurbitacin E on Ovarian Cancer Cells In vitro

Objective: To study the effects of Cucurbitacin E, extracted from Ecballium elaterium L. A.Rich. on ovarian cancer cell lines in vitro. Materials and methods: Human ovarian cancer cells (OV_95_CC3) and human lymphocytes were treated with Cucurbitacin E (CuE), a tetracyclic triterpenoid. Morphological changes were examined under the microscope, using the Papanicolau staining procedure, after one and twenty-four hours incubation. Results: Marked effects were observed in treated ovarian cancer cells. Reversible budding of cells and thread formation were observed in previous studies. However, in the present study, cells treated with CuE demonstrated more dramatic changes, which were irreversible and more pronounced after twenty-four hours. These changes were not observed in untreated ovarian cells and normal lymphocytes treated with the same compound. Conclusion: The results obtained indicate that Cucurbitacin E is toxic to ovarian cancer cells but not to normal peripheral lymphocytes.