Research on the effect of formononetin on photodynamic therapy in K562 cells

At the present time, many cancer patients combine some forms of complementary and alternative medicine therapies with their conventional therapies. The most common choice of these therapies is the use of antioxidants. Formononetin is presented in different foods. It has a variety of biological activities including antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. On account of its antioxidant activity, formononetin might protect cancer cells from free radical damage in photodynamic therapy (PDT) during which reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was stimulated leading to irreversible tumor cell injury. In this study, the influence of formononetin on K562 cells in PDT was demonstrated. The results showed that formononetin supplementation alone did not affect the lipid peroxidation, DNA damage and apoptosis in K562 cells. It increases the lipid peroxidation, DNA damage and apoptosis in K562 cells induced by PDT. The singlet oxygen quencher sodium azide suppresses the apoptosis induced by PDT with formononetin. In conclusion, formononetin consumption during PDT increases the effectiveness of cancer therapy on malignant cells. The effect of antioxidants on PDT maybe was determined by its sensitization ability to singlet oxygen.