Regulation of estrogen receptor-mediated apoptosis by vitexin in human colorectal carcinoma cells

Colon cancer is the is the third most common type of cancer, causing death, with a survival rate of 5 years usually treated with chemotherapy or surgery. Many chemotherapeutic drugs are tested, but they have limitations such as resistance development, toxicity, limited response in advanced stages, and a lot of adverse side effects. To combat this problem, the current study focuses on vitexin, a phytochemical that has anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-oxidant properties, is tested on HCT-116 cell lines as a chemotherapeutic drug for colon cancer. The present study proves that the phyto compound vitexin can upregulate the estrogen receptor genes and downregulate c-myc gene, which indicates that vitexin is a good therapeutic agent and induces the estrogen-mediated pathway on the regulation of cancer cell growth.