effect of quercetin on rac1 gene expression as a marker of metastasis in cervical cancer cells

Background: cancer metastasis is the most important cause of cancer death and different treatment strategies have targeted on preventing the occurrence of metastasis. quercetin is a flavonoid and widely used as an antioxidant and recent studies have discovered its anticancer and antiproliferative capabilities. rac1 is protein known to involve in tumor invasion and metastases.objectives: in this study, we investigated the effect of quercetin on expression of rac1 protein.materials and methods: in this experimental study, hela cells were treated with quercetin at 2 concentrations (20 and 40 μm) for 24 hours and then cell lysate was assessed by western blotting analysis to investigate the impact of quercetin on expression of rac1 protein.results: quercetin significantly decreased rac1 expression of hela cells assessed by western blotting, in dose-dependent manners (p < 0.05).conclusions: this study showed that quercetin decreased rac1 expression as a marker of metastasis in cervical cancer cells. therefore, the quercetin may provide an effective new strategy to reduce of tumor metastasis.