Abstract: Baicalein is a polyphenol compound belonging to the family of flavonoids. The suppressive effect and potential mechanism of  baicalein on human esophageal adenocarcinoma cell line (OE33) in vitro were investigated in current work. The results from MTT assay showed that baicalein could greatly inhibit the growth and proliferation of OE33 cells. Baicalein could induce OE33 cell differentiation as determined by phase-contrast microscopy, cofocal laser scanning microscopy, and flow cytometry. The results from real-time RT-PCR and Western-blot analysis showed that baicalein induced the expression of 14-3-3σbut inhibited the expressions of cyclin B1 and cyclin D1. It was suggested that 14-3-3σ, cyclin B1, and cyclin D1 might be the target genes during the differentiation induction by baicalein.

Key words: baicalein, human esophageal adencarcinoma, differentiation, mechanism