RESUMO
Resveratrol (RES) can inhibit the growth and proliferation of liver cancer cells. However, its role in the precancerous stage is still unclear. This paper aims to study the effect and mechanism of RES on the precancerous stage of liver cancer in rats induced by diethylinitrosamine (DEN). SD rats were divided into normal control group, RES treatment group, DEN treatment group and RES-DEN treatment group. The results showed that after the rats were treated with DEN for 8 weeks, the total expression level of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) of hepatocytes increased to 2-fold (P<0.05), and the expression level of PCNA protein in the nucleus increased to 3-fold (P<0.001). However, the expression levels of total PCNA (P<0.05) and nuclear PCNA protein (P<0.001) in hepatocytes of rats treated with RES-DEN decreased, suggesting that RES could significantly inhibit the liver malignant proliferation of cells. Through non-targeted metabolomics and KEGG metabolic pathway enrichment analysis, the results showed that the level of glycolysis did not increase significantly in the hepatocytes of RES-DEN-treated rats, although the transition from the pentose phosphate pathway to the glycolysis pathway was enhanced when compared with the DEN group rats. This finding suggested that the metabolic pathway of phosphoenolpyruvate-pyruvate-lactate was inhibited. Further verification found that the protein expression levels of key enzymes M2-type pyruvate kinase (PKM2) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDHA) in this metabolic pathway were inhibited (P<0.05). RES can reprogram glucose metabolism and inhibit DEN-induced excessive proliferation of rat hepatocytes in the precancerous stage of liver cancer, providing an experimental basis for RES to prevent liver cancer.