Abstract: Abstract: Objective　To investigate the regulatory effect of radix hedysari polysaccharide on the cell apoptosis, growth and motility of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells. Methods　The ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells were treated with 0, 3, 6, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1 600 mg/L radix hedysari polysaccharide. CCK8 method was used to screen the appropriate dose. RT-PCR was used to detect tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) mRNA expression levels. Flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis. The clone formation test was used to detect cell growth. Transwell method was used to detect cell invasion, and Western blot assay was used to detect the expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) and fibronectin (FN). Results　The optimal doses of radix hedysari polysaccharide were 0, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L for the subsequent experiments. Compared with the 0 mg/L radix hedysari polysaccharide group, the expression levels of TNF-α, iNOS and IL-6 mRNA were significantly down-regulated in ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells of 100 mg/L and 200 mg/L radix hedysari polysaccharide groups (P＜0.05), the cell apoptotic rate was significantly increased (P＜0.05), clone formation rate and the number of invasive cells were significantly decreased (P＜0.05), E-cadherin protein expression was up-regulated (P＜0.05), and the protein expression levels of VEGF and FN were significantly down-regulated (P＜0.05). Conclusion　Radix hedysari polysaccharide promotes the apoptosis of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and inhibits cell growth and movement.

Key words: ovarian neoplasms, apoptosis, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, radix hedysari polysaccharide, cell growth, cell invasion