Dose-Dependent Anticancer Activity of Berberine Chloride Hydrate in HNO210 Human Laryngeal Carcinoma Cells

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the concentration-dependent cytotoxic effects of berberine chloride hydrate on HNO210 human laryngeal carcinoma cells. METHODS: Human laryngeal carcinoma cell line HNO210 (BHC11100312; BioHippo) was cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM, 30-2002; ATCC) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (ATCC 30-2020) and 1% antibiotic-antimycotic solution (15240062; Gibco). Working concentrations (10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 500, and 1000 μL/mL) of berberine chloride hydrate were prepared by diluting the stock in complete medium. Doxorubicin (2 μM), a well-established chemotherapeutic agent, was used as the positive control. The antiproliferative effect was evaluated using the colorimetric MTT assay (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide). RESULTS: This study shows that berberine chloride hydrate decreases the viability of HNO210 human laryngeal carcinoma cells in a dose-dependent way after 24 hours of treatment. However, its cytotoxic effect was much weaker than that of doxorubicin, a well-known chemotherapeutic agent, while untreated cells grown in complete medium served as the negative control group. The large difference between the IC₅₀ values of the 2 compounds (990.8 µM for berberine compared with submicromolar levels for doxorubicin) indicates a significant difference in their biological potency in this cell model. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that while berberine chloride hydrate can produce measurable cytotoxic effects on laryngeal carcinoma cells, these effects are significantly weaker than those of doxorubicin. Future studies focusing on nanoparticle-based delivery or combination strategies could greatly improve berberine's therapeutic potential and help close the efficacy gap between natural and traditional chemotherapeutic agents.