Effect and mechanism of dauricine on proliferation and apoptosis of hepatoma Huh7 cells / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effect of dauricine on the proliferation and apoptosis of hepatoma Huh7 cells, and explore its anti-tumor mechanism and its relationship with Hedgehog signaling pathway. Methods The effects of different concentrations of dauricine (2, 4, 8 μg/mL) on the proliferation of Huh7 cells were detected by MTT assay. Apoptosis of Huh7 cells was analyzed by flow cytometry. Real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the levels of Hedgehog signaling pathway-related genes and proteins. Results With the increase of the concentration of dauricine and the duration of action, the inhibition rate of Huh7 cell proliferation was increased. Among them, 8 μg/mL dauricine had the highest inhibition rate (48.8%) at 48 h. Dauricine induced the apoptosis in Huh7 cells. With the increase of the concentration of dauricine, the apoptotic rate of cells was increased significantly (P < 0.05, 0.01). The mRNA and protein expression levels of PTCH1, GLi1, SMO and SHH genes in Hedgehog signaling pathway were significantly decreased, while the level of cleaved Caspase-3 protein was significantly increased, accompany with the decreased expression of Bcl-2 in dauricine concentration-dependent pattern (P < 0.05, 0.01) in dauricine group compared with the control group. Conclusion Dauricine could significantly inhibit the proliferation and promote apoptosis of Huh7 cells, which may play a role by blocking Hedgehog signaling pathway.