Introduction: Crocin, one of the major components in saffron, has been used in traditional medicine for its various health benefits. This carotenoid pigment has therapeutic effects on several human disorders, including cancer, atherosclerosis, hemorrhagic shock, and heart and blood disorders. Gastric cancer is a prevalent form of gastrointestinal malignancies worldwide, with high mortality rate. Resection surgery and use of chemical drugs and ionizing radiation are common therapeutic options for gastric cancer. Nevertheless, survival rate in advance stages is low, mainly due to the metastasis of cancer cells and their chemo and radio resistance. The purpose of current study was to investigate combinatorial effects of crocin and ionizing radiation on gastric cancer cells. Methods: At first, human gastric cancer cells (MKN-45 cell line) were treated with different concentrations of crocin (2 and 4 mM) for 24 hours. Then after, cells were subjected to varying doses of ionizing radiation (400, 600, and 800 cGy). Following the radiation exposure, cells were allowed to recover for 48 hours and finally alamarBlue reagent was added to cells. After 3 hours incubation, the absorbance was measured in a spectrophotometer at 600 nm. Results: Finding of the present study showed that combination of crocin and ionizing radiation reduced MKN-45 cell survival. When cells were treated with 2 and 4 mM crocin followed by 400 cGy irradiation, the viability was determined to be 69.1% and 36.6%, respectively. Likewise, after cells were treated with 2 and 4 mM crocin and then exposed to 600 cGy radiation, viability was calculated as 57% and 29.1%, respectively. In addition, upon treatment with 2 and 4 mM crocin and 800 cGy x-ray dose, the cell viability was reduced down to 30.6% and 22.8%, respectively. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings indicated that combinatorial use of crocin and ionizing radiation induced toxicity on MKN-45 cells. More research is recommended to assess the effects of our combinatorial approach on other gastric cancer cell lines.

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