槲皮素是許多中藥的有效成分，也是廣泛分佈於植物界中含量最多之類黃素(flavonoid)分子。近年來已有多篇文獻報告，槲皮素對多種腫瘤細胞有誘導凋亡及抑制生長作用，但至今尚未見到對葡萄膜黑色素瘤的相關報告。葡萄膜惡性黑色素瘤是成年人中最常見的一種惡性眼內腫瘤，一旦發現腫瘤擴散轉移後死亡率很高，至今無確切可靠的治療方法，也尚無有效的化學藥物。本研究乃以兩種人類葡萄膜黑色素瘤細胞株(M-17、SP6.5)爲對象，來探討槲皮素對葡萄膜惡性黑色素瘤細胞的影響。我們首先以不同濃度的槲皮素分別處理不同類葡萄膜黑色素瘤細胞株及人類皮膚纖維母細胞(fibroblast)（作爲對照組）。在經過48小時後，再以MTT法(Microculture tetrazolium test)測量槲皮素對兩株人類葡萄膜黑色素瘤細胞及人類皮膚纖維母細胞的細胞毒性作用。最後我們進一步以torminal transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) nick end-labeling (TUNEL)和Cell Death Detection ELISA兩種方法來觀察槲皮素是以誘發腫瘤細胞自我凋亡的現象發生。結果顯示，槲皮素對兩種葡萄膜黑色素瘤細胞的增殖皆有顯著的抑制作用，且呈劑量依存關係，但對人類皮膚纖維母細胞的增值則較不明顯。TUNEL染色及Cell Death Detection ELISA皆可以見到槲皮素誘發葡萄膜黑色素瘤細胞之自我凋亡現象的發生。本研究結果顯示，槲皮素對人類葡萄膜黑色素瘤細胞有明顯的選擇性細胞增殖抑制作用，其機轉可能與誘導細胞凋亡有關。

Quercetin is an effective component in many Chinese herb drugs. It is also, a kind of flavonoids, abundant in many plant and food. Recently, many papers reported that, quercetin can inhibit the proliferation of various malignant tumor cells through induction of apoptosis. However, there were no reports concerning about the effects of quercetin on uveal melanomas. Uveal melanoma, the most common primary intraocular malignant tumor in adults, is a highly aggressive cancer that leads to high rate of metastasis and mortality. So fag, there are no effective drugs in treatment of uveal melanoma. In this study, we observed the influence of quercetin on uveal melanoma with 2 human immortal uveal melanoma cell lines (M17 and SP6.5). We treated these 2 tumor cell lines and human dermal fibroblast as control with various concentrations of quercetin for 48 hrs, and evaluated the cell viability by MTT assay. Finally, we used both terminal transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method and Cell Death Detection ELISA to evaluate the occurrence of apoptosis in quercetin-treated cells. The results revealed that, quercetin had markedly cytotoxic effects on both uveal melanoma cell lines by a dose-dependent manner. However, the effect of quercetin on normal fibroblast was not evident. TUNEL staining method and Cell Death Detection ELISA demonstrated that, quercetin induced apoptosis of both tumor cell lines. The above results suggest that, quercetin has a selectively inhibitory effect on the proliferation of uveal menanoma cells. The mechanism may be related to the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells.