Baicaleininhibitsthe biological behavior of hepatocellular carcinoma stemcells by downregulation of decoy receptor 3 expression / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To date, there is no report on the anti-hepatoma mechanism of Chinese herbal medicine targeting hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells; therefore, relevant research is necessary. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of baicalein on the expression of Decoy receptor 3 in hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells as well as the biological behavior of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells after down-regulation of Decoy receptor 3.METHODS: Hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells were obtained from hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (purchased from the Cell Bank, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China), cultured and passaged. The cells were cultured in the low-glucose DMEM containing nothing (control group), 200 (high-dose group), 100 (middle-dose group) or 50 μmol/L (low-dose group) baicalein. After treatment with baicalein, RT-PCR and western blot were used to detect the expression of decoy receptor 3 at mRNA and protein levels. Cell counting kit-8, flow cytometry, and Transwell assay were used to detect the proliferation, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the control group, high-dose baicalein could significantly down-regulated the expression of decoy receptor 3 mRNA and protein in hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells. High-dose baicalein was then confirmed to be the best concentration of action. Compared with the control group, in the high-dose baicalein group, the proliferation ability of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells decreased significantly, the percentage of S-phase and G2-phase cells increased, while the percentage of G1-phase cells decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, in the high-dose baicalein group, the apoptotic rate of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells increased significantly, while the migration ability decreased markedly. To conclude, high-dose baicalein can inhibit a series of biological behaviors of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells by down-regulating the expression of Decoy receptor 3, which provides an experimental basis for clinical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with Decoy receptor 3 as the target and hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells as the object.