The flavonoids found in many foods may have a protective effect against human gastric cancer. However, little information is available concerning the effects of flavonoids on the SGC-7901 cell line. Therefore, we first evaluated the effects of purified Flos Albiziae flavonoids (FAFs) on the proliferation of the SGC-7901 human gastric cancer cell line and investigated its possible anti-proliferative mechanisms. When SGC-7901 cells were treated with FAFs for various time periods (12-72 h) and at various doses (0-32 µg/ml), cell growth decreased significantly in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Morphological observations with fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) yielded clear evidence of cell shrinkage, formation of cytoplasmic filaments, condensation of nuclear chromatin, and cell apoptosis in the presence of FAFs. Treatment with FAFs changed the expression levels of Bcl-2, P65, Bax and caspase. The anti-apoptotic protein expression of Bcl-2 and p65 decreased gradually with the increase in FAF concentration, compared with control cells (P<0.05). FAFs contributed to the increase in Bax and caspase expression. The expression of pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and caspase were upregulated by FAFs compared with control cells (P<0.01). These results demonstrated that FAFs effectively induced apoptosis in the SGC-7901 cell line. This indicates that FAFs are likely to possess anticancer activity.

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