Effect of organogermanium complexes on hepatocellular carcinoma cell-line

Organogermanium complexes are used as dietary supplement. Studies revealed that 
organogermanium compounds exhibited analgesic, anti-inflammatory,antioxidant, immune
modulating, antiviral and anticancer activity. Ascorbic acid is an essential vitamin for human body 
it is well known with its antioxidant activity. High doses of ascorbic acid showed anticancer activity 
in different cancer cells. In this study, the effect of organogermanium compounds was tested on 
HEPG2 cell line. In addition, a combination of selected complexes with high dose of ascorbic acid 
was done. The results showed a strong antitumor activity of the newly tested compounds. A great 
down regulation was observed on proliferation marker Ki67 and anti-apoptotic marker BCl2 and 
up regulation of apoptotic marker caspase3. The combination with ascorbic acid increased the 
activity of some compounds acting in a synergetic way. However, other compounds showed no 
difference upon combination.