en تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b>Background: </b>Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide, second only to cardiovascular disease. Many factors influence the development of cancer, including environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors. Although the prognosis of colon cancer treatment has improved significantly in recent years, there is still much clinical need to explore new treatment strategies with anticancer and immune-enhancing effects. Phycocyanin (PC) is an important compound isolated from blue-green algae and a well-known antioxidant that suppresses oxidative reactions in cells. It also has other useful functions, such as high efficiency, low toxicity, and antitumor properties. We investigated the potential antiapoptotic effect of PC <i>in vitro</i> on human normal and cancer cell lines.<span style="font-size:8.0pt"></span></span><br> <span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b>Methods: </b>Phycocyanin extracted from<i><span style="background:white"> Streptomyces</span></i><i> platensis</i> algae has the potential to become a turning point in pharmaceutical research. In this study, PC was used as a natural anticancer agent and apoptosis activator to increase the expression of the PTEN and B<span lang="EN-NZ">ax genes</span> in HT-29 cancer and normal cells (HUVEC). The effect of treatment with PC was evaluated using an MTT assay and flow cytometry. </span><br> <span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b>Results: </b>The results showed that PC can have apoptotic effects on the human colon cancer cell line (HT-29) by up-regulating PTEN and Bax genes and down-regulating AKT and BCL-2 genes. </span><br> <span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Conclusion: </span></b>Based on the findings, PC can be considered a herbal treatment and a useful supplement in the management of human colorectal cancer.</span></span></div> Apoptosis, BCL-2, HT-29 cells, Phycocyanin, PTEN 78 83 http://ijt.arakmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1134-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Abbas Asoudeh-Fard mi777.bio@gmail.com 100319475328460016744 100319475328460016744 No Laboratory for Vascular Translation Science, Cardiovascular Bioengineering, University Sorbonne, Paris North, Paris, France, and the Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Reza Najafipour rnajafipour@gmail.com 100319475328460016745 100319475328460016745 No Genetics Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran Amir Hadi Hosseini amirhadi.hosseini@gmail.com 100319475328460016746 100319475328460016746 No Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran Faezeh Razi faeze.razi74@gmail.com 100319475328460016747 0009-0007-0169-6993 No Faculty of Convergent Sciences and Technologies, Islamic Azad University of Science and Research, Tehran, Iran Iman Salahshourifar 100319475328460016748 100319475328460016748 No Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Zareian Jahromi 100319475328460016749 100319475328460016749 No Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Jahrom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jahrom, Iran. Asghar Parsaei Asghar_Parsaei@yahoo.com 100319475328460016750 100319475328460016750 No Rayan Novin Pajoohan Pars, Biotechnology Company Rep. and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Hossein Piri hosseinpiry@gmail.com 100319475328460016751 100319475328460016751 Yes Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran