Abstract: Objective　To study the effect of apigenin on proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis of endometrial carcinoma cell line HEC-1-B cells and its mechanism. Methods　HEC-1-B cells in logarithmic growth phase were treated with 0, 20, 40 and 80 μmol/L apigenin. CCK-8 method was used to detect the absorbance of cells cultured for 24, 48 and 72 hours. The level of apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, and the ability of invasion and migration were detected by Transwell assay. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, p-PI3K, PI3K, p-AKT and AKT. Results　With the increase of apigenin concentration from 20 to 80 μmol/L, the proliferation of HEC-1-B cells was significantly inhibited, the apoptosis rate increased. Meanwhile, the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax increased, and the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 decreased. With the increase of apigenin concentration in 0, 5, 10 and 20 μmol/L, the invasion and migration ability decreased in HEC-1-B cells. Western blot assay showed that 40 μmol/L apigenin could inhibit the expression levels of p-PI3K and p-AKT. Conclusion　Apigenin can inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migration, and promote apoptosis of HEC-1-B cells, which may be related to PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Key words: endometrial neoplasms, apigenin, cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell movement, PI3K/AKT signaling pathway