BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer is the second most prevalent carcinogenic disease and
surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are its principal treatment modalities. However, in most cases, poor response
to treatment and adverse side effects are observed regarding these modalities. Given the lack of response to
treatment and growing rates of gastric cancer, researchers are trying to come up with more efficient treatments
with fewer side effects. In the traditional medicine, licorice has been suggested as a cancer treatment considering
its high antioxidant properties and few side effects. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of licorice extract on
gastric cancer cell lines.
METHODS: In this experimental study, adenocarcinoma gastric cell lines were prepared from cell bank and were
cultured. After passage, the cells were transferred into a 96-well plate. In each well, approximately 2,000 cells in
RPMI-1640 culture medium with FBS (10%) were placed. The cells were repeatedly exposed to different
concentrations of Glycyrrhetinic acid (0, 1, 10 and100.1 μM) and Glycyrrhizic acid (10, 1, 100 and 0.1 μM) for 24
and 48 hours. Finally, the obtained results of the experimental and control groups were compared with each other.
FINDINGS: According to our results, the toxic effect of Glycyrrhetinic and Glycyrrhizic acids is dose and time
dependent. In 24 hours, the mean optical density (MOD) in 100 μM concentration of Glycyrrhetinic acid was
0.41±0.02 and 0.79±0.04 in the experimental and control groups, respectively (p=0.0002). After 48 hours, MOD
was 0.16±0.004 and 1.749±0.24 in the experimental and control groups, respectively (p=0.0003). Moreover, the
MOD of 100 μM concentration of Glycyrrhizic acid was 0.78±0.53 and 2.09±0.49 in the experimental and control
groups in 48 hours. There was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (p=0.035).
CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that the licorice compounds have a toxic effect on
carcinogenic cells. Therefore, it is recommended to perform more study on both Glycyrrhizic and Glycyrrhizic
acids as effective compounds on gastric cancer treatmen
