Abstract
Background and Objective: Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) of head and neck is a very common malignant tumor with high risk to develop in young individuals. Chemotherapy is limited treatment due to the side effects of the drugs and due to development of resistance to the drug; recently, it has been found that GSE has anticancer effects. Apoptosis is the cytotoxic effect that can be induced by extracts of medicinal plants, Active caspase-3 which is responsible for the morphological changes and fragmentation of DNA that occur during the apoptotic process. Methodology: Cytotoxicity of GSE was assessed on hep-2 cells using the MTT assay, the results were interpreted and half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was estimated. Apoptotic cells death was measured using the Cell Death Detection ELISA kit, following treatment of cells with GSE for 24 h. Results: the cell viability percent showed a gradual decrease in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Drug treated cells revealed in microscopic examination nuclear morphological alterations correlated with apoptosis in its various stages, Detection of caspase 3 enzyme assays showed that in drug treated cells the level of caspase 3 increased with increasing concentrations of GSE. Conclusion: GSE induced the apoptosis of squamous cell carcinoma cells demonstrating the anticancer efficacy of GSE.