Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide), possesses anti-proliferative properties that can be used as anticancer
intervention as promising cancer chemo-preventive constituent. We investigated capsaicin inhibitory activity against colon cancer (Caco-2) cells viability or proliferation. Cells were incubated with capsaicin at concentrations, 300μM/L, 500μM/L, 700μM/L and 900μM/L for 72h at 37°C and 5%CO2. Capsaicin induced Caco-2 cell death in a dose-dependent manner. Capsaicin-treated cells showed typical characteristics of apoptosis including inhibited the viability and proliferation of treated Caco-2 cells in vitro even by DNA fragmentation, cytological alterations. Protein over expression of caspase-3, in the capsaicin-treated cells was obviously seen. Also, Bcl- 2 expression was down-regulated, whereas p53 expression was increased. Future study will deal with further investigations of capsaicin possible usages as a new alternative or complementary chemotherapeutic agent for human cancer types specially colon cancer type.