Preparation of a novel organoselenium compound and its anticancer effects on cervical cancer cell line HeLa

This study aims at developing new organoselenium compounds with good anticancer ability and low biotoxicity. Sucrose selenious ester (sucrose-Se) was synthesized by the reaction between sucrose and selenium oxychloride. MTT assay showed that sucrose-Se effectively inhibited the proliferation of cervical cancer cell line HeLa in a dose-dependent manner without cytostatic influence on human normal liver cell line HL-7702. Morphological observation and agarose gel electrophoresis demonstrated that sucrose-Se induced apoptosis to HeLa cells. In addition, sucrose-Se was able to inhibit proliferation of bladder carcinoma cell line 5637, human malignant melanoma cell line A375, and gastric carcinoma cell line MGC-803. Median lethal dose of sucrose-Se and sodium selenite was 290.0 and 13.1 ppm, respectively, in the acute toxicity test on mice. In conclusion, sucrose-Se has potential in cancer chemoprevention due its apoptosis induction capacity and low biotoxicity.