Abstract: AIM: To study the anti-cancer effects of octreotide on the proliferation of liver cancer cells. METHODS: The liver cancer cells SMMC-7721 were cultured in RPMI-1640 media with 10 % fetal bovine serum, 100 U·ml^-1 penicillin and streptomycin.10^-5 ,10^-4, 10^-3 and 10^-2g·L^-1 of octreotide were added and MTT colorimetric assay were used to detect the growth inhibition rate.DNA staining and cell cycle analysis were done at 0, 6, 12, 24 and 36 hours after medication when the concentration of octreotide was 10^-3g·L^-1.RESULTS: MTT colorimetric tests showed that octreotide suppressed the growth of liver cancer cells.48 hours after medication, the cell growth inhibition rate was 9.33 %, 12.70 %, 19.70 % and 20.93 % when the octreotide concentration was 10^-5, 10^-4, 10^-3 and 10^-2g·L^-1 separately.Cell cycle analysis showed that the percentage of G₀-G₁ phase cells increased and the percentage of G₂-M phase cells decreased.CONCLUSION: Octreotide inhibits the cultured liver cancer cells proliferation in vitro, its mechanisms may be related to preventing the G₀-G₁ phase cells from going into G₂-M phase.

Key words: octreotide, liver cancer, cell culture, cell proliferation, cell cycle