Effect of melittin on proliferation and apoptosis of human HepG2 cells / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To observe the effect of melittin on human hepatocelluar carcinoma HepG2 cell prolifera-tion in vitro and its further mechanisms.Methods The capacity of cellular proliferation and apoptosis was measured with the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay,Hoechst 33258 assay and Annexin V-FITC /PI assay.The mR-NA expression of Shh, PTCH1, SMO, GLi1 and HDAC2 was performed by qRT-PCR.And the protein expression of Shh,PTCH1,SMO,GLi1 and HDAC2 was assessed by western blotting.Results Our study found that melittin effectively inhibited cell prolifera-tion and promoted cell apoptosis in vitro using MTT method and Flow cytometry.The mRNA and protein expression of Shh,PTCH1,SMO,GLi1 and HDAC2 were obviously decreased after treated with various con-centrations of melittin for 48h in HepG2 cells.Conclu-sions Taken together,our data suggest that melittin could inhibit cell proliferation and promote cell apopto-sis,reduce the level of HDAC2 and down-regulate the Hedgehog signaling pathway in this process simultane-ously.