The cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of daidzein on MIA PaCa-2 human pancreatic carcinoma cells and HT-29 human colon cancer cells

Daidzein (DZ) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, as well as the dose-dependent inhibition effect on cancer cells. In this study, the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of DZ on HT-29 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells) and MIA PaCa-2 (human pancreatic cancer cells) cell lines were determined using the XTT method and Comet assay, respectively. IC(50)concentrations of DZ were found to be 200 mu M in both MIA PaCa-2 and HT-29 cells treated with DZ for 48 hours (h). When the cells were treated with 200 mu M of DZ for 48 h, DNA damage was observed in both cell lines. DNA tail length (TL), tail moment (TM), and tail intensity (TI) increased more in MIA PaCa-2 cells treated with 200 mu M of DZ than those in the control cell (untreated MIA PaCa-2 cell) group (p < 0.01). However, only DNA-TI and DNA-TM exhibited higher increases in HT-29 cells treated with 200 mu M of DZ than those in the control cell (untreated HT-29 cell) group (p < 0.01). This shows that DZ has cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on both cell lines. The observed genotoxic effects of DZ still need to be confirmed in additional future studies.