Effect of ursodesoxycholic acid on JAK/STAT3/COX-2 signal pathway in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of ursodesoxycholic acid (UDCA) on JAK/STAT3/ COX-2 signal pathway in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and the underlying mechanism of its antitumor effect.Methods In order to obtain the optimal concentration and time of UDCA,MTT assay was used to detect anti-proliferative activities of UDCA on SMMC-7721 cells induced by IL-6 in vitro.Cells were divided into control group,IL-6 group,AG490 (JAK2 inhibitor) group and UDCA group.The protein expressions of STAT3,p-STAT3 and COX-2 were measured by Western blot.Results MTT assay showed UDCA had obvious anti-proliferative activities on SMMC-7721 cells.The optimized concentrations were 50,100,200 μg/ml,the optimized culture time was 48 h.Western blot results showed that the expression of p-STAT3 and COX-2 were remarkably increased in IL-6 group than that in control group.There was no difference of STAT3 expression between the two groups.Compared with IL-6 group,the protein level of COX-2 was decreased in AG490 and UDCA groups,so was the expression of p-STAT3.But there was no change on STAT3 expression in AG490 and UDCA groups.Conclusion UDCA may decrease the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells via inhibiting phosphorylation of STAT3 and down-regulating COX-2 exprcssion.